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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

The  Gastronomy  Collection  of 
LIBRARY 


^Z^2 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2006  with  funding  from 

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DELICATE  FEASTING 


DELICATE    FEASTING 


BY 


THEODORE   CHILD 

AUTHOR  OF   "SUMMER  HOLIDAYS"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER   &    BROTHERS,   FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1890 


TO 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND 
AND  INSEPARABLE  DINING  COMPANION 

P.  Z.  DIDSBURY 

THIS    LITTLE   VOLUME    IS 

iScTifcatctJ 

IN    SOUVENIR    OF 

MANY   GASTRONOMIC  TRIUMPHS  ENJOYED 

IN  HIS   COMPANY 


C5S 

AGRIC. 
LIBRARY 


INTRODUCTION. 


A  LETTER  FROM  P.  Z.  DIDSBURY  TO  THE 
AUTHOR. 

My  dear  a  uthor, — 

/  have  read  your  savory  little  volume  with 
interest,  amusement ,  and  satisfaction.  So  far 
as  concerns  myself  I  cannot  but  feel  flattered 
by  your  respectful  quotation  of  my  aphorisms, 
and  by  your  very  appreciative  and  useful  com- 
ments upon  them.  You  knozu  that  these  apho- 
risms are  the  result  of  the  experience  of  the 
many  years  which  I  have  passed  in  the  ardent 
study  of  delicate  feasting — that  art  which,  as 
Victor  Hugo  says  in  his  Titanic  way,  consists 

"  de  faire  aboutir, 
La  mamelle  du  monde  a  la  bouche  d'un  homme." 

You  dwell  with  laudable  persistency  upon 
the  necessity  of  criticism,  in  gastronomic  mat- 
ters, and  the  usefulness  of  your  book  will  con- 


fwi-'^rr-i  'x/1  c" 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

sist  largely  in  awakening  a  spirit  of  criticism 
and  in  calling  attention  to  the  roles  of  intellect 
and  sentiment  in  the  art  of  cooking.  There  is 
no  severer  and  more  conclusive  test  of  a  coun- 
try's state  of  civilization  than  the  way  its  in- 
habitants dine. 

How  often  we  hear  cultivated  European 
travellers  say  that  America  is  a  country  where 
there  is  the  greatest  variety  of  primary  ali- 
mentary substances  of  the  finest  quality,  but, 
unfortunately,  the  cooking  and  serving  of  them, 
leaves  much  to  be  desired.  Certainly  there  is 
110  lack  of  cook-books.  Indeed,  this  special 
branch  of  literature  is  more  flourishing  in  the 
United  States  and  in  Great  Britain  than  it  is 
in  the  country  where  good  cookery  is  not  yet 
entirely  a  souvenir  of  the  past.  These  books, 
however,  are  often  merely  compilations  of  reci- 
pes, and  few  of  them  are  based  on  careful 
observation  or  on  truly  scientific  and  artistic 
principles.  The  writers  of  these  works,  too, 
are  often  led  away  by  the  mere  love  of  novelty, 
as  if  the  caprices  of  fashion  were  to  be  allowed 
to  perturb  the  immutable  theories  of  scientific 
dining!  Moreover,  the  neglect  or  ignorance 
of  the  kitchen  and  table  is  partly  the  fault  of 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

some  of  the  ideas  that  were  brought  over  to  us 
in  the  '^  Mayflower T 

My  more  recent  visits  to  my  native  land 
have,  I  must  confess  with  joy,  caused  7ne  to 
recognize  the  pleasing  fact  that  the  culinary 
art  has  made  great  progress  in  America  dur- 
ing the  past  twenty  years.  It  is  now  possible 
(^generally  with  the  aid  of  French  cooks,  it  is 
true)  to  obtain  at  one  or  two  restaurants  in 
each  of  the  principal  cities,  and  in  many  of 
the  clubs,  a  dinner  fairly  well  prepared  and 
passably  served.  In  private  houses,  it  seems 
to  me,  the  advance  beyond  the  old  state  of 
things  is  not  so  perceptible.  Generally  speak- 
ing, there  is  always  a  great  abundance  of  food, 
but  it  is  not  well  cooked  or  attractively  pre- 
sented on  the  table ;  and  it  is  only  in  certain 
families,  whose  members  have  travelled,  and 
whose  tastes  and  opportunities  have  led  thern 
specially  to  observe  the  arrangement  of  a  din- 
ner in  a  first  -  class  French  restaurant  or 
private  house,  that  we  yet  find  the  matchless 
cookery  and  perfection  in  all  the  details  of 
table-service  without  which  a  dinner  is  a  fail- 
ure. Much,  therefore,  remains  to  be  done,  and 
I  am  sure  that  your  dainty  volume — which  is 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

a  sort  of  higher  hand-book  of  the  kitchen  and 
dining-room^  if  I  may  so  express  myself  (and 
I  think  I  may) — will  greatly  help  to  increase 
in  America  a  knowledge  of  the  true  principles 
of  delicate  feasting. 

If,  after  reading  your  pages,  so  full  of  ideas 
— so  suggestive,  as  the  French  modernists 
would  say — my  countrymen  do  not  become  con- 
vinced, with  that  charming  poet  and  gastron- 
omist, Theodore  de  Banville,  that  the  hygiene 
of  the  stomach  is  also  the  hygiene  of  the  mind 
and  soul,  and  that  delicate  cookery  develops 
the  intelligence  and  the  moral  sensibility,  the 
fault  will  not  be  yours.  I  approve  you  heart- 
ily and  wholly,  even  in  your  paradoxes,  which 
always  contain  a  kernel  of  logical  observation 
and  judicious  criticism. 

Adieu,  my  dear  author ;  macte  virtute,  by 
which  I  mean,  continue  in  your  efforts  to  win  a 
glorious  pair  of  gouty  crutches,  and  believe  me 
always  your  devoted  and  inseparable  compan- 
ion in  gastronomy, 

P.  Z.  DiDSBURY. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOK 

Introduction vii 

I.  The  Gastronomic  Art i 

II.  The  Chemistry  of  Cooking     ...  14 

III.  Methods  of  Preparing  Meats    .    .  18 

IV.  Conditions  Requisite  for  Healthy 

Digestion 28 

V.  On  Vegetables 35 

VI.  On  Relish  and  Seasoning  ....    52 

VII.  ACETARIA,  OR  CONCERNING  THE  DRESS- 
ING OF  Salads 65 

VIII.  The  Theory  of  Soups 83 

IX.  Practical  Soup-making 91 

X.  About  Sauces 97 

XI.  Menus,  Hors  d'CEuvres,  Entries    .  112 
XII.  On  Paratriptics  and  the  Making 

OF  Tea  and  Coffee 120 

XIII.  The  Dining-room  and  its  Decora- 

tion      132 

XIV.  On  Dining-tables .140 


xii  CONTENTS. 


PAOK 


XV.  On  Table-service 157 

XVI.  On  Serving  Wines 172 

XVII.  The  Art  of  Eating  at  Table.    .  180 
XVIII.  On  Being  Invited  to  Dine  ...  196 

Index 209 


DELICATE   FEASTING. 


L 

THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART. 

Here  are  some  points  which  ought  always 
to  be  borne  in  mind,  both  by  those  who  cook 
and  by  those  who  eat.  I  quote  them  in  the 
form  of  aphorisms,  proverbs,  epigrams,  or 
dicta,  accompanying  each  with  the  name  of 
the  author. 

I.  A  man  can  dine  only  once  a  day. — P.  Z. 

Didsbury. 
This  profound  sentence  should  be  written 
in  flame-colored  letters  on  the  walls  of  every 
kitchen,  so  that  the  cook  may  never  forget 
the  terrible  responsibility  of  his  functions. 
If  the  dinner  is  defective  the  misfortune  is 
irreparable ;  when  the  long-expected  dinner- 
hour  arrives,  one  eats  but  does  not  dine ; 
the  dinner-hour  passes,  and  the  diner  is  sad, 
I 


2  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

for,  as  the  philosopher  has  said,  a  man  can 
dine  only  once  a  day. 

II.  Bad  cooking  diminishes  happiness   and 

shortens  life. — Wisdom  of  ages. 

III.  The  art  of  cooking,  like  the  art  of  dining, 
is  exempt  from  the  caprices  of  fashion. 
The  principles  of  both  these  arts  are 
eternal  and  immutable. — P.  Z.  Didsbury. 

In  this  pithy  dictum  the  author  prophet- 
ically and  implicitly  condemned  such  barbar- 
ous inventions  as  "progressive  dinner-par- 
ties." 

IV.  The  pleasures  of  the  table  may  be  en- 
joyed every  day,  in  every  climate,  at  all 
ages,  and  by  all  conditions  of  men. — 
Brillat-Savarin. 

The  author  of  the  "  Physiology  of  Taste  " 
was  a  vigorous  rather  than  a  delicate  eater, 
and  a  speculative  rather  than  a  practical  gas- 
tronomer. We  will  not  accept  all  he  says 
as  being  gospel,  but  will  listen  gratefully  to 
such  liberal  and  broadly  human  maxims  as 
the  above.  The  arts  of  cooking  and  of  din- 
ing interest  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men ; 
they  are  not  merely  the  privilege  of  the  rich ; 
they  are  philanthropic  and  democratic  arts. 


THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART.  3 

V.  Those  who  get  indigestion,  or  who  be- 

come intoxicated,  know  neither  how  to 
eat  nor  how  to  drink. — Brillat-Savarin. 

The  same  author  has  said,  "  Animals  feed  ; 
man  eats ;  the  intelligent  man  alone  knows 
how  to  eat."  Strange  to  say,  the  stomach  is 
the  basis  of  our  whole  existence;  it  is  the 
source  of  strength  and  of  weakness,  of  health 
and  of  disease,  of  gayety  and  of  melancholy ; 
we  do  everything  for,  by,  or  through  the 
stomach ;  and  yet  the  two  series  of  opera- 
tions which  most  closely  concern  the  stom- 
ach— I  mean  the  operations  of  cooking  and 
eating  food — are  those  to  which  most  people 
devote  the  least  reasoning. 

VI.  A  well-cooked  and  a  well-served  dinner 
implies,  on  the  part  of  the  host,  a  sense 
of  the  respect  he  owes  to  his  guests, 
whose  happiness  he  controls  while  they 
are  under  his  roof.  On  the  part  of  the 
cook,  it  implies,  not  only  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  his  art,  but  also  a  sense 
of  dignity  and  self-respect  and  a  certain 
emotion.  Good  cooking  comes  from  the 
heart  as  well  as  from  the  brain,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  not  a  science,  but  an  art. 
The  cook  who  is  a  real  artist,  and  whose 


4  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

dishes  are  works  of  art,  will  experience 
over  his  saucepans  emotion  as  poignant 
as  that  which  Benvenuto  Cellini  felt  when 
he  was  casting  one  of  his  immortal  bronze 
statues. — P.  Z.  Didsbury. 

VII.  If  there  is  anything  sadder  than  unrec- 
ognized genius,  it  is  the  misunderstood 
stomach.  The  heart  whose  love  is  re- 
jected— this  much-abused  drama — rests 
upon  a  fictitious  want.  But  the  stom- 
ach !  Nothing  can  be  compared  to  its 
sufferings,  for  we  must  have  life  before 
everything. — Honor^  de  Balzac. 

VIII.  The  gastronomer  loves  order  and  har- 
mony of  service,  as  the  painter  loves  har- 
mony of  colors.  Excellent  food  served 
in  a  coarse  dish  will  seem  less  succulent 
than  poorer  food  served  on  fine  porcelain 
or  gold-plate.  Nevertheless  the  charm 
of  glass-ware,  lordly  dishes,  and  delicate 
napery  must  not  be  exaggerated.  No 
splendor  of  service  can  compensate  for 
inferior  and  badly  cooked  viands. — P.  Z. 
Didsbury. 

IX.  A  good  restaurant  is  like  a  more  or  less 
epic  poem — it  cannot  be  improvised  in  a 


THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART.  5 

day.  Tradition,  knowledge,  experience, 
and  even  genius,  are  necessary.  A  good 
cellar  alone  can  only  be  formed  with  the 
aid  of  length  of  time  and  prodigious  fac- 
ulties of  taste. — Magny. 

The  author  of  this  aphorism  is  the  famous 
cook  who  founded  the  Restaurant  Magny  in 
the  Rue  Contrescarpe  at  Paris,  and  made  a 
fortune  by  selling  good  food  and  real  wine. 
George  Sand,  the  great  novelist,  was  one  of 
Magny 's  most  faithful  admirers ;  and  as,  in 
her  quality  of  poet,  she  had  the  privilege  of 
omniscience,  she  knew,  as  I  have  been  told 
by  the  sweet  poet  Theodore  de  Banville, 
that  wines  and  food  are  the  best,  and  per- 
haps the  only,  medicines.  And  so,  during  a 
long  and  cruel  malady,  which  nearly  carried 
off  her  son,  she  insisted  that  Maurice  Sand 
should  drink  only  wines  chosen  by  Magny, 
and  eat  only  food  prepared  by  Magny's  own 
hands.  The  excellent  restaurateur  yielded 
to  the  mother's  desire,  and  made  for  Maurice 
those  consommes^  or  quintessences  of  nutri- 
ment, which  are  infinitely  rarer  than  a  good 
poem  or  a  faultless  sonnet.  Thus  Magny, 
impeccable  doctor  and  perfect  cook,  saved 
George  Sand  the  terrible  grief  of  losing  her 


6  DELICATE  FEASTING* 

son,  and  preserved  for  our  pleasure  an  in- 
genious writer,  the  author  of  "  Masques  et 
Bouffons." 

X.  In  a  restaurant  when  a  waiter  offers  you 
turbot,  ask  for  salmon,  and  when  he 
offers  you  a  sole,  order  a  mackerel ;  as 
language  to  man,  so  fish  has  been  given 
to  the  waiter  to  disguise  his  thoughts. — 
P.  Z.  Didsbury. 

The  philosopher,  I  imagine,  wrote  this 
maxim  after  a  varied  and  disastrous  expe- 
rience in  European  restaurants.  The  deca- 
dence of  the  restaurants  in  the  Old  World 
largely  justifies  the  severity  of  the  above 
warning.  There  are,  however,  exceptions,  and 
in  certain  first-class  restaurants  in  Paris — six, 
at  the  outside — it  is  well  not  to  be  too  ready 
to  choose  for  yourself,  without  listening  to 
the  voice  of  the  head-waiter.  As  a  rule,  in  a 
restaurant,  maintain  your  free  will,  but  do 
not  try  to  impose  it.  In  matters  of  cookery, 
as  in  love,  much  confidence  is  needed. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  become  a  habitue 
of  a  first-class  Paris  restaurant,  it  is  preferable 
not  to  be  on  speaking  terms  with  the  maitre 
d'hStel,  but  to  transmit  your  orders  directly 
through  the   intelligent  waiter,  whom  your 


THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART.  / 

experienced  eye  will  have  detected  the  very 
first  day  that  you  set  foot  in  the  establish- 
ment. The  maitre  d' hotel — important,  fat, 
fussy,  and  often  disdainful  in  his  manner — 
serves  mainly  to  create  confusion ;  he  receives 
your  orders  with  deference,  but  rarely  trans- 
mits them  to  the  waiter  with  exactitude; 
and,  as  it  is  the  waiter  who  communicates 
immediately  with  the  cook,  it  is  preferable 
to  suppress,  as  far  as  possible,  the  useless  in- 
tervention of  the  maitre  d'hStel.  For  my 
own  part,  in  the  restaurants  where  I  am  in 
the  habit  of  dining,  I  refuse  to  hold  any 
communication  with  the  maitres  d'/tdtel  untily 
perhaps,  at  the  end  of  the  dinner,  when  I 
graciously  allow  a  favored  one  to  descend 
into  the  cellar  in  person  and  select  for  me, 
with  his  own  podgy  fingers,  a  creamy  camem- 
bert  cheese,  the  ripest  and  the  richest  of  the 
lot.  This  concession  I  make,  not  because  I 
admit  for  a  moment  that  the  maitre  d'hdtel 
is  an  infallible  judge  of  camembert,  but  mere- 
ly because,  after  dinner,  I  am  more  charita- 
bly disposed  than  before  dinner,  and,  conse- 
quently, I  desire  to  show  to  the  maitre  d'hdtel 
that  I  cherish  no  ill-feeling  against  him  in  my 
heart  of  hearts,  although  I  maintain  that  his 
functions,  as  they  are  generally  fulfilled,  have 
no  raison  d'etre. 


8  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

XL  Cooking  is  generally  bad  because  people 
fall  into  routine ;  habit  dulls  their  appre- 
ciation, and  they  do  not  think  about  what 
they  are  eating. 

They  fall  into  routine  because  they  do  not 
criticise. 

They  do  not  criticise  because  they  have  no 
ideal. 

They  have  no  ideal  because  they  do  not 
know,  theoretically  and  practically, 
what  cooking  means,  whatsis  its  object, 
and  what  are  the  conditions  necessary 
for  success. 

The  ideal  is  unattainable,  but  the  aim  of 
the  cook  should  always  be  to  reduce  the 
interval  which  separates  practical  from 
ideal  excellence. — P.  Z.  Didsbury. 

XII.  There  is  no  perfect  cook-book. — Ex- 
perientia. 

XIII.  The  art  of  cooking  cannot  be  learned 
out  of  a  book  any  more  than  the  art  of 
swimming  or  the  art  of  painting.  The 
best  teacher  is  practice  ;  the  best  guide 
is  sentiment.  —  Louis  XV.,  King  of 
France. 

Louis    XV.    was    an    amateur  cook,  and 
amused  himself,  in  company  with  the  Prince 


THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART.  9 

de  Dombes,  by  making  quintessential  stews 
in  silver  pans. — See  Goncourt, "  La  Duchesse 
de  Chateauroux." 

XIV.  There  are  innumerable  books  of  reci- 
pes for  cooking,  but  unless  the  cook  is 
master  of  the  principles  of  his  art,  and 
unless  he  knows  the  why  and  the  where- 
fore of  its  processes,  he  cannot  choose  a 
recipe  intelligently  and  execute  it  suc- 
cessfully.— Richard  Estcourt,  Providore 
of  y"  original  "  Beefsteak  Club." 

XV.  The  distinction  of  classical  cookery  and 
household  cookery  is  a  vain  one.  There 
are  but  too  sorts  of  cookery,  namely, 
bad  cookery  and  good  cookery. — P.  Z. 
Didsbury. 

XVI.  The  most  artistic  and  the  most  whole- 
some ways  of  preparing  food  are  the 
simplest. — P.  Z.  Didsbury. 

XVII.  The  perfect  cook  is  single-minded  and 
disguises  nothing.  —  Gamaliel  Stubbs, 
Clerk  of  the  Kitchen  to  Oliver  Cromwell. 

XVIII.  Even  in  Mr.  D'Urfey's  presence  this 
I  would  be  bound  to  say,  that  a  good 
dinner  is  brother  to  a  good  poem  ;  only 


lO  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

it  is  something  more  substantial,  and 
between  two  and  three  o'clock  more 
agreeable. — Dr.  William  King. 

Dr.  King,  the  English  bard,  born  in  1663, 
died  1 71 2,  wrote  a  poem  on  the  "Art  of 
Cookery,"  in  imitation  of  Horace's  "Art  of 
Poetry,"  having  remarked  that, 

"  Tho'  cooks  are  often  men  of  pregnant  wit, 
Thro'  niceness  of  their  subject  few  have  writ." 

In  the  days  of  the  learned  and  ingenious 
doctor,  who,  by  the  way,  sided  with  Dr.  Sache- 
verell,  and  had  a  hand  in  some  of  the  po- 
litical kites  which  flew  about  at  that  time, 
people  rose  earlier  and  dined  earlier  than 
they  do  nowadays.  But  whatever  the  hour 
at  which  a  good  dinner  is  eaten,  it  is,  as  the 
worthy  doctor  says,  brother  to  a  good  poem  ; 
nay,  more  than  that,  it  is  a  poem  itself. 

XIX.  It  is  convenient  to  dine  late,  because 
you  can  then  concentrate  all  your 
thoughts  on  your  plate,  think  only  of 
what  you  are  eating,  and  go  to  bed  af- 
terwards.— Grimod  de  la  Reyniere. 

The  author  of  this  sage  maxim,  Balthazar 
Grimod  de  la  Reyniere,  born  in  1758,  was 
one  of  the  fathers  of  the  modern  art  of  cook- 


THE   GASTRONOMIC  ART.  II 

ery,  and  a  most  enlightened  and  philosophical 
gourmand,  having  thoroughly  orthodox  ideas 
on  the  subject  of  dining.  The  reason  he 
gives  above  for  dining  late  is  the  true  one. 
Dinner  is  a  matter  of  such  importance  that 
it  cannot  be  treated  lightly;  it  is  at  once  a 
source  of  health  and  a  source  of  joy,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  take  joy  hurriedly,  or  to  dine 
hastily.  A  real  gourmand  would  sooner  fast 
than  be  obliged  to  eat  a  good  dinner  in  a 
hurry.  The  mortal  enemy  of  dinner  is  every 
meal  taken  before  it  in  the  course  of  the 
working  day.  Eat  lightly  during  the  day, 
and  reserve  your  forces  for  the  crowning  meal 
of  dinner.  Remember,  also,  that  a  dinner 
without  ceremony  is  as  much  to  be  dreaded 
as  an  amateur  concert. 

XX.  The  man  who  pays  no  attention  to  the 
food  that  he  consumes  is  comparable 
only  to  the  pig,  in  whose  trough  the 
trotters  of  his  own  son,  a  pair  of  old 
braces,  a  newspaper,  and  a  set  of  domi- 
noes are  equally  welcome. — Charles  Mon- 
selet. 

By  this  selection  of  maxims  and  summings 
up  of  experience,  I  have  sought  to  impress 
upon  the  reader's  mind  the  high  importance 


12  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

of  the  arts  of  cooking  and  of  eating,  and  of 
all  the  operations  connected  with  them.  I 
have  been  careful  to  choose  only  general 
maxims,  from  which  the  thoughtful  reader 
will  deduce  for  himself  particular  conse- 
quences. Until  recently,  the  cook-book  has 
been  too  often  merely  a  collection  of  recipes 
printed  pell-mell  in  bewildering  abundance, 
and  classified  in  the  least  methodical  man- 
ner. Of  such  cook-books  there  are  hundreds, 
and  many  of  them  are  admirable  in  their 
way,  but  a  cook  must  be  already  very  learned 
in  his  art  in  order  to  know  how  to  use  them 
with  advantage,  and  to  adapt  each  recipe  to 
a  case  in  point.  The  consequence  is,  that 
many  cook-books  are  bought,  and  few  are 
read  either  by  mistress  or  maids,  by  masters 
or  by  head-cooks.  The  philosopher  P.  Z. 
Didsbury  has  told  us  that,  nowadays,  people 
fall  into  routine  in  matters  of  cookery,  be- 
cause they  do  not  criticise  ;  but  how  can  they 
criticise  if  they  do  not  know  the  principles 
of  the  art  of  cooking?  It  is  not  a  question 
of  having  at  one's  finger's  ends  the  compo- 
sition of  a  hundred  dishes,  or  the  recipes  for 
making  ninety-nine  soups.  The  knowledge 
indispensable  to  critic  and  practitioner  alike 
is  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  each  opera- 


THE  GASTRONOMIC  ART.  1 3 

tion  employed  in  the  art  of  cooking ;  the  con- 
ditions of  success  in  each  operation ;  the 
means  of  preserving,  developing,  and  com- 
bining flavors.  Now  these  operations  may 
all  be  reduced  to  a  few  main  processes,  the 
thorough  comprehension  of  which  is  the  first 
step  in  the  art  of  cooking.  All  the  subtle- 
ties and  delicacies  of  the  art  depend  on  the 
perfection  of  these  main  and  elementary  proc- 
esses ;  and,  to  go  even  further,  we  may  say 
that  no  one  who  is  not  master  of  these  proc- 
esses can  use  with  advantage  a  book  of  rec- 
ipes. Furthermore,  both  the  cook  and  the 
critic  will  increase  the  lucidity  of  their  rea- 
soning, and  the  completeness  of  their  com- 
prehension of  things,  by  acquiring  a  few 
elementary  notions  about  the  chemistry  of 
cooking.  Let  me  insist  once  more  upon  the 
necessity  of  the  application  of  logic  and  rea- 
son to  these  questions  of  gastronomy ;  upon 
the  importance  of  knowing  the  "why"  and 
the  "  wherefore,"  if  not  the  "  how ;"  and, 
above  all,  upon  the  desirableness  of  culti- 
vating the  critical  faculty  as  applied  to  the 
arts  of  cooking,  of  dining,  and  of  serving 
food.  The  destiny  of  nations,  it  has  been 
said,  depends  upon  the  manner  in  which 
they  eat. 


II. 

THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  COOKING. 

Animal  chemistry  is  in  a  very  backward 
condition,  as  compared  with  vegetable  and 
mineral  chemistry.  Prof.  Bloxam,  for  in- 
stance, tells  us  that  the  chemical  formulae  of 
a  great  many  animal  substances  are  perfectly 
unintelligible,  conveying  not  the  least  infor- 
mation as  to  the  position  in  which  the  com- 
pound stands  with  respect  to  other  sub- 
stances, or  the  changes  which  it  might  un- 
dergo under  given  circumstances.  Certain  re- 
sults, however,  have  been  obtained,  and  will 
be  here  cited  so  far  as  they  have  significance 
in  the  operations  of  cooking,  no  pretension 
being  made  to  originality,  and  the  authori- 
ties being  cited  in  each  case. 

For  the  general  guidance  of  the  cook,  meat 
may  be  said  to  be  composed  of  four  elements, 
namely:  muscular  fibre,  albumen,  fat,  and 
juice — the  latter  being,  chemically  speaking, 
a  very  complicated  substance  containing  a 
number  of  proximate  elements. 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  COOKING.  1$ 

"  In  the  juice  of  flesh,"  says  Prof.  Bloxam 
("  Chemistry  Inorganic  and  Organic,"  Lon- 
don, 1883), '' which  may  be  squeezed  out  of 
chopped  flesh,  there  are  certain  substances 
which  appear  to  play  a  very  important  part 
in  nutrition.  The  Hquid  is  distinctly  acid, 
which  is  remarkable  when  the  alkaline  char- 
acter of  the  blood  is  considered,  and  contains 
phosphoric,  lactic,  and  butyric  acid,  together 
with  kreatine,  inosite,  and  saline  matters." 

These  names  will  convey  little  to  simple 
minds,  but  the  essential  point  to  be  remem- 
bered is  that  the  juice  of  flesh  contains  a  va- 
riety of  nutritive  substances. 

Flint,  in  his  "  Physiology  of  Man  "  (N.  Y., 
1875),  says:  "  Food  contains  many  substances 
having  an  important  influence  on  nutrition 
which  have  never  been  isolated  and  analyzed, 
but  which  render  it  agreeable,  and  give  to  the 
diet  that  variety  which  the  system  impera- 
tively demands. 

"  Many  of  these  principles  are  developed  in 
the  process  of  cooking'' 

The  same  authority  tells  us  that  the  effect 
of  cooking  on  muscular  tissue  is  to  disinte- 
grate, to  a  certain  extent,  the  intermuscular 
alveolar  or  connective  tissue,  and  so  to  facili- 
tate the  action  of  the  digestive  fluids. 


I6  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

"  The  savors  developed  in  this  process  have 
a  decidedly  favorable  influence  on  the  secretion 
of  the  gastric  ju  ice.  * ' 

To  present  the  same  fact  in  another  light : 
"All  methods  of  preparation,"  says  Payen 
("  Substances  Alimentaires  "),  **  which  tend  to 
render  meat  easier  to  divide  or  more  tender, 
and  often  more  agreeable  to  the  taste,  concur 
to  increase  its  digestibility,  or,  in  other  words, 
its  easy  assimilation,  and  often  annihilate  cer- 
tain causes  of  unhealthiness  existing  in  raw 
meaty 

Fat  and  fatty  substances  are  not  digested 
in  the  stomach,  inasmuch  as  the  gastric  juice 
has  no  action  on  them,  further  than  setting 
them  free  from  the  albuminoid  substances 
with  which  they  may  be  entangled.  This 
variety  of  food,  together  with  the  starch,  is 
digested  below  the  stomach,  through  the  ac- 
tion of  the  pancreatic  and  intestinal  juices. 
This  explains  why  the  saturation  of  food  in 
general  by  fat  during  the  process  of  cooking 
should  be  avoided,  as  the  fat  in  this  case  acts 
as  a  varnish  to  the  albuminous  substances 
and  prevents  free  access  to  the  latter  of  the 
gastric  juices,  by  which  alone  this  class  of 
food  can  be  digested. 

Albumen  is  a  substance  which  becomes 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  COOKING.  1/ 

more  indigestible  the  longer  it  is  cooked ;  it 
is  most  easily  digested  in  the  raw  state.  The 
most  familiar  form  of  albumen  is  white  of 
egg,  which  contains  of  albumen  about  12  per 
per  cent.,  of  water  about  86  per  cent.,  and 
about  2  per  cent,  of  soluble  salts. 
2 


III. 

METHODS   OF  PREPARING  MEATS. 

The  usual  methods  of  cooking  are  roast- 
ing, broiling,  boiling,  frying,  stewing,  and 
decocting.  We  will  consider  each  process 
briefly,  from  the  point  of  view  of  practical 
chemistry. 

In  roasting,  the  exterior  of  the  piece  of 
meat  is  submitted  brusquely  to  a  tempera- 
ture considerably  above  212  degrees  Fahren- 
heit or  boiling-point,  or  at  any  rate  not  be- 
low boiling-point.  The  result  is  that  the  al- 
bumen of  the  surface  is  coagulated^  and  in  this 
state  acts  as  a  barrier  against  the  escape  of 
the  juice  inside,  and  against  the  infiltration  of 
liquid  from  without.  After  a  few  minutes 
close  exposure  to  a  brisk,  clear  fire,  the  joint 
may  be  drawn  back  a  little  and  roasted  slow- 
ly. Thus  the  interior  mass  of  the  meat,  en- 
closed in  an  impervious  jacket,  cooks  literal- 
ly in  its  juice,  getting  heated  in  the  inside 
only  to  a  temperature  between  120  and  150 


METHODS  OF  PREPARING  MEATS.        1 9 

degrees  Fahrenheit,  which  is  not  sufficient  to 
coagulate  and  harden  the  interior  albumen. 
By  this  outer  dried  layer  the  meat  inside  is 
protected  from  evaporation  and  desiccation, 
and,  being  acted  on  by  the  liquid  juice,  it  un- 
dergoes a  maceration  and  a  temperature  suf- 
ficient to  disintegrate  the  muscular  fibre,  to 
gelatinize  and  render  soluble  the  connective 
tissue  that  binds  the  fibres  together,  and  to 
develop  the  aroma  enough  to  make  the  meat 
agreeable  to  the  taste.  What  the  aroma  is 
remains  a  mystery.  All  we  know  is  that  it 
comes  from  the  brown  sapid  substance  pro- 
duced on  the  outer  layer  of  the  flesh  by  the 
operation  of  roasting.  In  this  part  of  the 
meat,  according  to  Bloxam,  **  some  of  the 
constituents  of  the  juice  suffer  a  change 
which  gives  rise  to  the  peculiar  flavor  of  roast 
meat." 

Broiling  requires  a  brisk  fire,  free  from 
smoke,  the  combustible  being  either  charcoal 
or  coke.  The  fire  should  extend  somewhat 
beyond  the  edges  of  the  gridiron,  in  order 
that  the  sides  of  the  meat  may  be  acted 
upon  by  the  heat  at  the  same  time  as  that 
portion  which  is  in  more  immediate  contact 
with  the  fire. 

The  albumen  over  the  entire  surface  of  the 


20  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

piece  of  meat,  whether  cutlets,  chops,  steak, 
kidneys,  or  what  not,  should  be  rapidly  co- 
agulated, so  as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the 
juice. 

Always  take  care  to  have  your  fire  brisk 
and  clear  at  the  beginning  of  the  operation, 
so  that  you  may  be  sure  of  rapidly  setting 
the  whole  surface  of  your  meat — glazing  it,  so 
to  speak — for  the  coagulation  of  the  surface 
albumen  forms  an  impervious  jacket  for  the 
grilled  meat,  just  as  it  does  for  the  roast  and 
the  boiled  meat,  as  already  described. 

Let  your  gridiron  be  hot  before  you  put 
your  meat  on  it,  otherwise  the  cold  bars, 
conducting  away  the  heat  and  preventing 
rapid  coagulation  of  the  surface  albumen, 
will  cause  an  escape  of  juice  into  the  fire. 

In  order  to  prevent  sticking,  the  gridiron, 
before  the  meat  is  put  on  it,  should  be  rubbed 
over  with  suet.  For  grilling  fish  the  grid- 
iron may  be  rubbed  with  chalk. 

The  gridiron  is  made  to  incline  gently  tow- 
ards the  cook,  who,  being  intelligent,  and 
having  comprehended  all  that  we  have  said 
about  the  necessity  of  carefully  imprisoning 
the  juice  of  meat  and  never  piercing  the  out- 
side coating  of  coagulated  albumen,  will,  of 
course,  never  dream  of  turning  his  chops  or 


METHODS  OF  PREPARING  MEATS.       21 

steaks  with  a  fork — he  will  grasp  them  with 
a  pair  of  special  tongs,  or  even  with  his  fin- 
gers. In  practical  kitchen-work  one  is  con- 
stantly reminded  of  the  truth  of  the  familiar 
saying  that  fingers  were  made  before  forks, 
and  also  before  tongs. 

The  operations  of  stewing  invariably  begin 
by  browning  the  meat  in  a  little  butter  or 
dripping  in  a  saucepan  or  a  frying-pan.  The 
object  is  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  opera- 
tions of  roasting, boiling, and  broiling:  name- 
ly, to  coagulate  the  surface  albumen  of  the 
meat,  and  so  case-harden  it  and  develop  its 
flavor  in  accordance  with  the  chemical  prin- 
ciples already  set  forth. 

Frying  is  the  process  of  subjecting  food  to 
a  high  temperature  in  a  bath  of  hot  fat, 
which,  at  the  moment  of  beginning  the  op- 
eration, should  be  about  400  degrees  Fah- 
renheit. During  the  operation  the  temper- 
ature of  the  bath  should  rise  two  or  three 
degrees. 

The  best  frying-bath  is  one  composed  of 
beef  suet  and  veal  fat  in  equal  proportions, 
melted  down  ;  the  grease  of  the  dripping-pan 
and  of  the  pot-au-feu  is  also  good ;  lard,  too, 
may  be  used,  although  it  leaves  the  surface 
of  the  fried  food  less  pure ;  a  special  oil  is 


22  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

also  sold  for  frying  purposes,  and  butter  may- 
be employed  for  light  frying  only.  Ordinary 
olive  oil,  when  heated  to  a  high  temperature, 
contracts  a  strong  taste,  probably  due  to 
the  charring  of  particles  of  the  flesh  of  the 
olive  that  remain  imperceptibly  mixed  with 
the  oil. 

Note  that  cook-books  generally  recom- 
mend the  use  of  a  beaten  egg  to  make  the 
flour,  bread-crumbs,  or  chapelure  adhere  to  a 
sole,  for  instance,  which  is  to  be  fried.  A 
simpler  method  is  to  dip  the  sole  in  milk 
and  then  roll  it  in  your  flour.  Thus  you 
avoid  the  thick  lumps  and  patches  of  crust 
which  are  almost  inevitable  when  an  egg  is 
used.  This  is  a  small  detail,  but  small  de- 
tails all  '■'■  make  for  "  perfection,  as  Matthew 
Arnold  would  have  said. 

Experience  will  teach  the  cook  to  discover 
when  the  frying -bath  has  reached  the  re- 
quired temperature  by  the  peculiar  hissing 
sound  produced  by  allowing  a  drop  of  water 
to  fall  into  it. 

Decoction  is  the  name  that  may  be  given 
to  the  process  of  extracting  the  juice  from 
meat  and  separating  it  from  the  fibre  and 
tissues ;  it  is  the  reverse  of  roasting  or  broil- 
ing and  their  derivative  processes.     In  order 


METHODS  OF  PREPARING  MEATS.       23 

to  extract  the  juice  of  meat  we  place  the 
flesh  in  cold  water,  the  temperature  of  which 
is  very  slowly  raised  to  the  boiling-point :  thus 
all  the  juice  of  the  flesh  is  dissolved  out  and 
completely  separated  from  the  muscular  fibre. 

Bloxam  says :  "  The  object  to  be  attained 
in  the  preparation  of  beef-tea  is  the  extrac- 
tion of  the  whole  of  the  soluble  matters  from 
the  flesh,  to  effect  which  the  meat  should  be 
minced  as  finely  as  possible,  soaked  for  a 
short  time  in  an  equal  weight  of  cold  water, 
and  slowly  raised  to  the  boiling-point,  at 
which  it  is  maintained  for  a  few  minutes.  The 
liquid  strained  from  the  residual  fibrine  con- 
tains all  the  constituents  of  the  juice  except 
the  albumen,  which  has  been  coagulated." 

The  economical  French,  in  making  their 
pot-au-feu  and  bouillon^  do  not  mince  the 
meat,  but  leave  it  in  a  solid  mass,  the  only 
reason  being  that  thus  the  meat  may  be  pre- 
sented at  table,  although  there  is  very  little 
nourishment  left  in  it  after  the  process  of 
decoction  is  over. 

In  boiling,  the  meat  is  exposed  to  a  high 
temperature  in  water.  You  wait  until  the 
water  has  reached  the  boiling-point  before 
you  immerse  the  meat  in  it,  and  leave  it  to 
cook  for  about  five  minutes  at  that  tempera- 


24  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ture.  The  heat  of  the  water,  212  degrees 
Fahrenheit,  at  once  coagulates  the  albumen 
in  the  external  layer  of  flesh,  which  becomes 
thus  a  waterproof  case  in  which  the  meat 
cooks,  safe  from  the  infiltration  of  water  and 
from  the  escape  of  its  juice.  After  the  first 
five  minutes  the  cooking  should  proceed 
more  gently,  at  a  temperature  of  162  degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

Both  in  roasting  and  in  boiling,  the  result 
is  similar,  and  is  thus  noted  by  Dalton  on  the 
preparation  of  meat  for  food : 

"  Firstly,  the  albumen  which  is  present  in 
the  muscular  tissue  is  coagulated,  and  the  mus- 
cular fibres,  therefore,  become  rather  firmer  and 
more  consistent  than  they  are  in  fresh  meat. 

"  Secondly,  the  cellular  tissue  between  the 
muscular  fibres  is  softened  and  gelatinized, 
so  that  the  fibres  are  more  easily  separated 
from  one  another,  and  the  whole  mass  becomes 
more  tender  and  easily  digestible. 

"  Thirdly,  the  high  temperature  develops 
in  the  albuminous  ingredients  of  the  meat  a 
peculiar  and  attractive  flavor,  which  they  did 
not  possess  before^  and  which  excites  in  a 
healthy  manner  the  digestive  secretion^  thus 
serving  not  only  to  please  the  taste y  but  also  to 
assist  in  the  digestion  of  the  food. 


METHODS  OF  PREPARING  MEATS.       25 

"  Raw  meat/*  adds  Dalton,  "  is  usually  in- 
sipid and  unattractive.  It  is  only  after  it  has 
been  subjected  to  a  certain  amount  of  cook- 
ing that  the  desired  flavor  makes  its  appear- 
ance, by  which  the  appetite  is  stimulated, 
and  the  nutritive  qualities  of  the  food  conse- 
quently improved. 

"The  preparation  of  meat  in  cooking 
should  be  carefully  managed  so  as  to  accom- 
plish the  results  above  described.  For  if  the 
heat  be  insufficient  the  proper  flavor  will  not 
be  developed ;  and  if  the  heat  be  excessive, 
the  meat,  instead  of  being  cooked,  will  be 
burned  and  decomposed,  and  thus  rendered 
useless  for  the  purpose  of  nutrition." 

Notice  how  constantly  science  recurs  to 
the  physiological  advantages  of  delicate  cook- 
ing, in  that  it  stimulates  the  appetite,  pleases 
the  taste,  assists  in  the  digestion,  and  actually 
improves  the  nutritious  qualities  of  food. 

Before  cooking  meat,  a  sufficient  time  must 
have  elapsed  since  the  slaughtering  to  have 
allowed  the  cadaveric  rigidity  to  pass  and  the 
spontaneous  reaction  to  set  in  which  deter- 
mines a  primary  disintegration  of  the  tissues. 
The  time  which  meat  has  to  be  kept  varies 
according  to  the  temperature.  If  cooked 
while  in  a  state  of  cadaveric  rigidity,  that  is 


26  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

to  say,  too  fresh,  meat  is  hard  and  indiges- 
tible. 

The  first  practical  lesson  to  be  drawn  from 
the  above  theory  of  roasting  is  that  a  joint 
should  never  be  spitted  by  thrusting  an  iron 
rod  through  it.  The  only  reasonable  and  sci- 
entific spit  is  a  sort  of  cage  which  clasps  the 
meat  around  without  piercing  it  anywhere. 
Thus  there  will  be  no  loss  of  juice. 

The  rational  way  of  placing  the  spit  is  in  a 
horizontal  position,  and  care  should  be  taken 
to  have  the  fire  in  a  somewhat  convex  form,  so 
that  the  heat  may  be  distributed  over  the  ends 
as  well  as  over  the  middle  portions  of  the  meat. 

Baked  meat  is  an  abomination. 

So-called  "  roast "  meat,  cooked  in  ovens, 
is  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 

Roast  meat  is  roast  meat,  and  in  order  to 
roast  you  must  have  an  open  fire,  before 
which  your  joint  is  placed  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  air  circulates  freely  around  it. 

The  reason  why  it  is  objectionable  to  cook 
meat  by  baking  it  in  an  oven — unless  it  be  a 
big  bakers'  oven — is  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  keep  an  ordinary  oven,  in  a 
cooking  -  stove,  clean  and  well  -  ventilated. 
The  sides,  roof,  and  floor  of  the  oven  get  be- 
spattered with  particles  of  fat  and  spots  of 


METHODS  OF   PREPARING  MEATS.       2/ 

gravy  during  the  baking  process,  and  these 
particles  become  charred,  and  thus  fill  the 
oven  with  ammoniac  and  with  a  foul  atmos- 
phere of  empyreumatic  oils,  by  which  terri- 
ble word  the  chemists  indicate  the  unwhole- 
some vapors  generated  through  the  action  of 
fire. 

In  the  process  of  roasting  before  an  open 
fire  these  empyreumatic  odors  are,  indeed, 
generated,  but  they  pass  off  up  the  chimney, 
whereas  in  the  oven  they  are  imprisoned, 
and  there  penetrate  the  meat,  destroy  its  fla- 
vor, and  render  it  more  or  less  insipid. 

Meat,  however,  may  be  baked  in  pies,  be- 
cause in  this  case  its  surface,  being  protected 
by  the  crust,  cannot  be  charred  and  impreg- 
nated with  the  foul  empyreumatic  oils.  The 
baking  of  meat  in  a  pie -crust  amounts,  in 
reality,  to  a  stewing  operation,  the  paste 
forming,  as  it  were,  a  stew-pan  with  its  lid. 

Frequent  basting  is  essential  to  successful 
roasting.  Otherwise,  the  coagulated  surface 
of  the  meat  would  crack  and  split  open  dur- 
ing the  operation,  and  allow  an  escape  of  the 
juice.  The  melted  fat ^  poured  over  the  meat, 
penetrates  into  every  crevice,  and  by  means  of 
the  higher  temperature  of  the  fat  the  surface  of 
the  meat  is  maintained  in  an  impervious  state. 


IV. 

CONDITIONS   REQUISITE   FOR 
HEALTHY  DIGESTION. 

"  The  healthy  action  of  the  digestive  proc- 
ess must  be  provided  for  by  careful  attention 
to  various  particulars.  First  of  all,  the  food 
should  be  of  good  quality  and  properly  cooked. 
The  best  methods  of  preparation  by  cook- 
ing are  the  simplest ;  such  as  roasting,  broil- 
ing, or  boiling.  Articles  of  food  which  are 
fried  are  very  apt  to  be  indigestible  and  hurt- 
ful, because  the  fat  used  in  this  method  of 
cooking  is  infiltrated  by  the  heat,  and  made 
to  penetrate  through  the  whole  mass  of  the 
food.  Now  we  have  seen  that  fatty  sub- 
stances are  not  digested  in  the  stomach,  as 
the  gastric  juice  has  no  action  upon  them.  In 
their  natural  condition  they  are  simply  mixed 
loosely  with  the  albuminous  matters,  as  but- 
ter, when  taken  with  bread  or  vegetables,  or 
the  adipose  tissue  which  is  mingled  with  the 
muscular  flesh  of  meat ;  and  the  solution  of 


CONDITIONS  OF  HEALTHY  DIGESTION.     29 

the  albuminous  matters  in  the  stomach,  there- 
fore, easily  sets  them  free,  to  pass  into  the 
small  intestines.  But  when  imbibed,  and 
thoroughly  infiltrated  through  the  alimen- 
tary substances,  they  present  an  obstacle  to 
the  access  of  the  watery  gastric  juice,  and 
not  only  remain  undigested  themselves,  but 
also  interfere  with  the  digestion  of  the  al- 
buminous matters.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  all  kinds  of  food  in  which  butter  or 
other  oleaginous  matters  are  used  as  ingre- 
dients, so  as  to  be  absorbed  into  their  sub- 
stance in  cooking,  are  more  indigestible 
than  if  prepared  in  a  simple  manner." — 
Dalton  ("  Treatise  on  Physiology,"  N.  Y., 
1878). 

None  of  the  immediate  principles,  taken 
separately,  in  the  animal  or  vegetable  king- 
dom, suffices  for  complete  nutrition,  even 
during  a  short  time,  and  even  with  the  addi- 
tion of  water  to  drink. 

Payen  ('*  Substances  Alimentaires*')  con- 
siders that  we  can  realize  the  most  favorable 
chances  of  preserving  for  a  long  time  health 
and  strength,  especially  by  maintaining  a 
fair  balance  in  the  consumption  of  nutritive 
substances  of  an  animal  and  of  a  vegetable 
nature,  by  varying  our  alimentary  regime^  and 


30  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

by  avoiding  both  insufficiency  and  excess  of 
nourishment. 

The  flesh  of  the  ox,  according  to  all  the 
authorities  on  alimentation,  of  all  the  kinds 
of  muscular  tissue,  is  that  which  possesses 
the  greatest  nutritive  power,  which  repre- 
sents the  most  renovating  plastic  aliment, 
which  furnishes  the  most  tasty  and  appetiz- 
ing broth,  and  which  can  be  used  more  con- 
stantly with  profit  than  any  other  article  of 
food  of  its  class. 

Incidentally  let  it  be  noted  that  salted 
meat  is  much  less  nutritious  than  fresh.  It 
has  been  ascertained  chemically  that  brine 
extracts  from  the  muscular  tissue  much  of 
its  nutritive  principle. 

Dalton  places  next  after  beef,  as  being  most 
valuable  as  nutriment,  mutton  and  venison ; 
then  the  flesh  of  fowls,  the  various  kinds  of 
game-birds,  and,  lastly,  fish. 

The  opinion  of  modern  French  scientists, 
as  presented  in  the  article  on  Food  in  the 
'*  Nouveau  Dictionnaire  de  Medicine,"  may 
be  noted  and  read  with  interest.  According 
to  this  authority,  "  Fish  is  only  slightly  nu- 
tritive, but  easily  digestible.  Its  exclusive 
use  would  soon  produce  a  diminution  of 
muscular  force,  paleness  of  the  tissues,  and 


CONDITIONS  OF  HEALTHY  DIGESTION.     3 1 

all  the  signs  of  an  alimentation  insufficient 
in  quality. 

*'  Fish  is  more  digestible  than  the  white 
meat  of  fowl. 

''  The  flesh  of  shell-fish  crustaceans  is  hard 
of  digestion. 

"  Roast  meat  is  more  digestible  than 
boiled. 

"  Eggs  very  slightly  cooked  and  daiiy  prod- 
uce are  more  digestible  than  white  meats. 

"  Of  vegetables,  the  feculents  are  the  most 
digestible. 

"  New  wheat  bread  is  heavier  than  stale 
bread. 

"The  aliments  to  which  the  cook's  art 
gives  a  liquid  or  semi-liquid  form  are,  in  gen- 
eral, more  digestible. 

"  The  more  readily  an  aliment  is  dissolved 
by  the  juices  of  the  stomach  the  easier  its 
digestion." 

Add  to  these  facts  the  remark  of  Dalton : 
"  Cheese  contains  the  nutritious  elements  of 
the  milk  in  a  condensed,  but  somewhat  indi- 
gestible, form." 

Nevertheless  you  will  eat  a  little  cheese 
after  your  dinner,  for,  as  Brillat-Savarin  hath 
it,  "  A  dessert  without  cheese  is  like  a  beau- 
tiful woman  with  only  one  eye." 


32  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Of  the  vegetable  tribe,  lentils,  beans,  and 
peas  are  the  most  nourishing. 

Fruit,  when  perfectly  ripe,  is  most  easy  of 
digestion,  because  the  juice  of  fruit  consists 
of  pure  grape-sugar  (glucose)  and  water,  and 
it  is  in  the  form  of  grape-sugar  that  all  starchy 
food  is  finally  absorbed  into  the  system.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  starch  of  the  fruit,  hav- 
ing been  already  changed  into  glucose  by  the 
process  of  ripening,  requires  no  digestion  after 
it  is  eaten  by  man,  inpismuch  as  it  is  already 
in  the  state  in  which  this  element  of  nutri- 
tion is  immediately  absorbed  into  the  system. 

Special  qualities  of  meats  from  the  point  of 
view  of  their  digestibility. 

According  to  Payen,  without  there  being 
anything  absolute  in  these  qualities,  which 
depend  on  the  particular  state  of  the  diges- 
tive organs  of  different  individuals  or  on  their 
idiosyncrasies,  we  may  say,  in  general,  that 
meats  are  more  easily  digestible  the  less 
strong  their  cohesion  and  the  less  their 
hardness.  We  might  thus  establish  between 
them  the  following  order,  beginning  with  the 
lightest : 

Sea  and  river  fish,  fowl,  game,  crustaceans, 
lamb,  veal,  beef,  mutton,  wild  boar,  pork. 


CONDITIONS  OF  HEALTHY  DIGESTION.     33 

In  these  categories  are  generally  consid- 
ered heavy  and  hard  to  digest :  salmon,  eels, 
geese,  ducks,  and  some  other  water-birds,  as 
well  as  strongly  smoked  and  salted  meat. 

On  the  time  required  for  the  digestion  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  food. 

Hrs.       Min. 

Roasted  pork 5        15 

Salt  beef,  boiled 4        15 

Veal,  broiled 4 

Boiled  hens 4 

Roasted  mutton 3         15 

beef 3 

Boiled        "    3        30 

Raw  oysters 2        45 

Roasted  turkey 2        30 

Boiled  milk 2 

"       codfish 2 

Venison  steak i         35 

Trout,  broiled i         30 

Tripe i 

Pigs'  feet I 

Eggs,  hard  boiled \  ^        3°  to 

/  5        30 
"      soft       "      3 

The  above  is  taken  from  Beaumont's  "  Ex- 
periments on  Digestion."    Dalton  comments 
on  these  observations  as  follows  :  "  These  re- 
sults would  not  always  be  precisely  the  same 
3 


34     •  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

for  different  persons,  since  there  are  varia- 
tions in  this  respect  according  to  age  and 
temperament.  Thus,  in  most  instances,  mut- 
ton would  probably  be  equally  digestible 
with  beef,  or  perhaps  more  so ;  and  milk, 
which  in  some  persons  is  easily  digested,  in 
others  is  disposed  of  with  considerable  diffi- 
culty. But,  as  a  general  rule,  the  compara- 
tive digestibility  of  different  substances  is,  no 
doubt,  correctly  expressed  by  the  above  list." 


V. 

ON  VEGETABLES. 

In  order  to  have  good  dishes  of  cooked 
vegetables  you  must  first  obtain  good  vege- 
tables grown  rapidly  and  cleanly  and  gath- 
ered young.  Unless  the  market-gardener  has 
studied  his  business,  and  produced  his  wares 
in  the  best  possible  condition,  the  cook  will 
always  be  handicapped  in  preparing  those 
wares. 

Each  vegetable  has  its  good  and  bad  sea- 
sons, and  must  be  employed  in  consequence. 
In  taste  and  quality  spring  carrots,  for  in- 
stance, differ  widely  from  autumn  carrots. 

By  the  art  of  the  gardener  the  seasons  may 
be  to  a  certain  extent  suppressed.  At  Paris, 
for  instance,  the  fruits  and  vegetables  of  each 
season  are  anticipated  to  a  great  extent  by 
forced  culture,  which  is  practised  on  a  large 
scale  in  the  outskirts  of  the  capital.  The 
Parisian  primeurs^  or  first-fruits,  are  exquisite 
in  quality  and  taste,  and  quite  different  from 


36  •  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  early  fruits  and  vegetables  sent  to  Paris 
from  the  south  of  France,  Spain,  Portugal, 
Algeria,  and  even  Egypt,  which  supplies  fresh 
tomatoes  to  the  Paris  and  London  markets 
in  January.  Lately  the  Belgians  have  taken 
to  grape  culture,  and  supply  the  Paris  mar- 
ket with  fruit  from  January  to  May ;  from 
July  to  October  the  grape  supply  comes  from 
Algeria;  from  September  to  January  the 
finest  grapes  are  produced  by  the  growers  of 
Thomery,  near  Fontainebleau.  Thus  there 
are  only  two  months  out  of  the  twelve  when 
you  cannot  have  fresh  grapes  at  Paris.  In 
all  kinds  of  vegetables  and  salads  the  Paris 
market  is  unrivalled.  The  methods  of  cult- 
ure employed  by  the  gardeners  who  supply 
this  market  are  worthy  of  careful  study. 

As  a  general  rule,  all  dry  vegetables  are 
cooked  by  putting  them  into  cold  water,  the 
temperature  of  which  is  gradually  raised  to 
boiling-point,  while  all  fresh  and  green  veg- 
etables are  cooked  by  plunging  them  into 
salted  water  already  boiling. 

The  reason  is  that,  as  in  the  cooking  of 
meat,  so  in  the  cooking  of  vegetables,  it  is 
desirable  to  protect  them  against  the  infiltra- 
tion of  water. 

Starch  is  as  constant  a  constituent  of  veg- 


ON  VEGETABLES.  J^ 

etables  as  albumen  is  of  meat.  Raw  starch 
is  practically  not  digestible  by  man,  so  that  it 
is  absolutely  necessary  that  vegetables  should 
be  thoroughly  cooked.  In  boiling,  the  starch 
granules  absorb  water,  swell  up,  and  burst, 
thus  undergoing  the  first  necessary  step  to 
their  subsequent  transformation  into  glucose 
through  the  action  of  the  digestive  fluids. 
Also,  when  starch,  in  the  dry  state,  is  heated 
to  302  degrees  Fahrenheit,  it  is  changed  into 
dextrine,  in  which  state  it  is  thoroughly  di- 
gestible. The  potato  is  composed  almost  en- 
tirely of  starch,  and  the  necessary  transfor- 
mation in  cooking  is  comparatively  easy  to 
effect.  But  in  the  case  of  dried  beans  and 
peas,  prolonged  cooking  is  necessary  in  order 
to  soften  and  disintegrate  the  woody  fibre 
with  which  this  class  of  food  is  more  or  less 
entangled.  The  development  of  flavor  by 
cooking  is  much  less  marked  in  vegetables 
than  in  meat.  In  boiling  dried  vegetables 
a  method  is  adopted  which  is  the  reverse  of 
that  in  cooking  meat.  The  vegetables  are 
immersed  in  cold  water,  which  is  afterwards 
brought  to  the  boiling-point,  and  then  the 
cooking  proceeds  at  a  temperature  somewhat 
below  212  degrees  Fahrenheit,  so  as  not  to 
destroy  the  form  of  the  vegetables. 


38  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Starch  in  the   digestive  tube  is  changed 
first  into  dextrine,  then  into  glucose. 


Much  has  been  written  about  the  ways  of 
preserving  the  green  color  in  cooked  vege- 
tables. 

The  French  cooks,  I  have  read  in  English 
cook-books,  generally  put  a  pinch  of  carbo- 
nate of  ammonia  into  the  water. 

Dubois -Bernard  and  Souchay  use  a  red 
copper  pan  to  boil  their  vegetables  in.  The 
red  copper,  during  the  process  of  boiling, 
gives  off  a  little  oxychloride  of  copper,  which 
is  the  same  product  that  is  used  for  giving 
a  green  patine  to  bronze  statues. 

In  reality  the  great  secret  is  simply  to  have 
abundance  of  water  in  the  pot. 

It  will  be  found  that  string-beans,  for  in- 
stance, plunged  into  well-salted  boiling  water, 
in  a  pot  of  any  material,  provided  it  be  large 
enough  to  allow  the  beans  to  float  freely,  each 
one  careering  round  on  its  own  account  in  the 
stream  of  ebullition,  will  retain  their  green 
color  perfectly. 

The  pot  should  not  be  covered. 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  same  holds 
good  of  other  green  vegetables. 

Another  idea  which  is  found  in  many  cook- 


ON  VEGETABLES.  39 

books,  and  which  is  indiscriminately  practised 
by  non-reasoning  cooks — that  is  to  say,  by 
the  majority — is  a  process  of  cooHng  or  chill- 
ing, termed  by  the  French  cooks  rafraichir. 
This  process  consists  in  plunging  the  vegeta- 
bles into  boiling  water  for  a  few  minutes ; 
then  taking  them  out  and  throwing  cold  wa- 
ter on  to  them  to  cool  them  ;  then,  after  they 
are  cooled  and  drained,  continuing  the  cook- 
ing in  boiling  water.  This  process  is  employed 
to  prevent  the  vegetables  turning  yellow. 

Experience  in  my  own  kitchen,  confirmed 
by  the  experience  and  practice  of  many  in- 
telligent chefs  whom  I  have  consulted,  has 
convinced  me  that  this  cooling  process  is  a 
mistake,  except  when  the  supplementary  cook- 
ing operations  justify  it,  and  also  when  the 
vegetables  have  to  be  served  cold,  as  for  in- 
stance in  the  case  of  a  macedoine  or  salad  of 
vegetables. 

As  a  general  rule  green  vegetables  should 
be  boiled  in  an  abundance  of  well-salted  boil- 
ing water,  in  a  roomy  pot  and  without  a  lid. 
As  soon  as  the  vegetables  are  cooked  serve 
them  rapidly.  Let  as  short  a  time  as  possible 
elapse  between  the  cooking  of  vegetables  and 
the  eating  of  them. 

In   cooking  cauliflower,  asparagus,  string- 


40  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

beans,  and  any  other  vegetable  which  may 
sometimes  have  a  slightly  bitter  taste,  due  to 
accidents  of  culture  or  what  not,  it  is  well  al- 
ways to  put  a  lump  of  loaf  sugar  into  the  wa- 
ter. This  precaution  will  effectually  counter- 
act the  bitterness,  if  there  be  any. 

To  cook  a  cauliflower  proceed  thus :  wash 
it  carefully  ;  cut  it  into  four  if  it  is  large  ;  pass 
each  portion  through  a  bowl  of  water  with  a 
dash  of  vinegar  in  it  to  drive  the  grubs  out  if 
there  are  any ;  drain  and  plunge  into  a  gallon 
of  boiling  water  containing  about  one  half  an 
ounce  of  salt  and  a  lump  of  sugar. 

Take  the  cauliflower  out  of  the  pot  as  soon 
as  it  begins  to  feel  tender  to  the  touch. 
Pinch  it  with  your  fingers  to  feel  whether  it 
is  tender  or  not.  The  cooking  of  the  cauli- 
flower will  continue  for  some  minutes  after 
it  has  been  taken  out  of  the  water,  thanks  to 
the  heat  stored  in  it. 

Cauliflower  thus  cooked  may  be  served 
with  white  sauce,  or  au  gratin. 

To  make  cauliflower  au  gratin  take  one 
ounce  of  butter  and  a  little  more  than  one 
ounce  of  flour ;  hold  them  in  a  saucepan  over 
the  fire  for  two  minutes ;  then  add  one  and 
a  half  pints  of  water,  two  pinches  salt,  three 
pinches  pepper ;  put  on  the  fire  and  boil  for 


ON  VEGETABLES.  41 

ten  minutes,  stirring  all  the  while  with  a 
wooden  spoon.  Then  you  add  a  good  ounce 
of  grated  Parmesan  cheese  and  a  good  ounce 
of  grated  Gruyere,  and  reduce  the  whole  for 
five  minutes.  (By  "  reducing  "  we  mean  ap- 
plying very  hot  fire  to  the  saucepan  in  order 
to  bring  about  rapid  evaporation,  and  so  re- 
duce the  liquidity  of  the  mixture.  "  Cook- 
ing," on  the  other  hand,  is  produced  by  a 
slow  and  continuous  fire.) 

Next  you  take  a  shallow  dish  of  porcelain 
or  of  crockery  which  will  resist  heat,  the 
same  dish  in  which  the  cauliflower  will  be 
served  when  cooked.  You  place  a  layer  of 
cauliflower  in  the  bottom  of  the  dish,  and 
spread  over  it  a  layer  of  the  sauce.  Then 
you  pile  up  the  rest  of  the  cauliflower,  pour 
over  it  the  rest  of  the  sauce,  sprinkle  another 
ounce  of  grated  Parmesan  and  a  spoonful  of 
cracker-crumbs,  and  pour  over  the  whole  three 
quarters  of  an  ounce  of  melted  butter.  Then 
you  put  the  dish  in  an  oven  with  fire  above 
and  fire  below,  and  in  twenty  minutes  it  will 
be  as  brown  and  golden  as  a  picture  by  Titian, 
a  joy  to  the  eye  and  a  delight  to  the  palate. 

N.B. — If  you  use  salt  butter  reduce  the 
quantity  of  salt  in  your  first  sauce. 

Cauliflower  boiled  as  above  may  be  eaten 


^x  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

cold  with  oil  and  vinegar  as  a  cold  vegetable, 
or  employed  as  an  ingredient  in  vegetable 
salads. 

Another  simple  way  of  serving  it  is  saute 
with  butter.  In  this  case  you  must  not  boil 
the  cauliflower  quite  so  much.  Take  it  out 
of  the  water  while  it  is  still  quite  firm  ;  break 
it  up  into  small  branches  ;  place  in  a  saucepan 
with  butter;  sprinkle  on  it  some  seasoning 
herbs  or  simply  finely  chopped  chervil  and 
a  little  pepper;  cook  over  a  brisk  fire, 
shaking  the  saucepan  from  time  to  time, 
and  serve. 

Asparagus  should  be  grown  carefully,  and 
gathered  when  the  head  is  violet  or  tinged 
with  violet.  The  stalks  should  be  very  white. 
You  prepare  it  by  scraping  the  stalks,  so  as 
to  remove  the  pellicule  which  has  been  in 
contact  with  the  soil ;  wash  each  piece ;  cut 
the  stalks  of  equal  length,  say  six  or  eight 
inches  ;  tie  them  into  bundles  of  eight  or  ten 
sticks,  and  put  them  to  cook  in  a  caldron 
of  boiling  salt  water,  with  a  lump  of  sugar. 
The  water  should  be  salted  at  the  rate  of  one 
quarter  of  an  ounce  of  salt  per  quart  of  water 
for  a  quantity  of  asparagus  varying  from  thirty 
to  forty  sticks,  according  to  the  thickness  of 
the  sticks.    As  soon  as  the  asparagus  begins 


ON  VEGETABLES.  43 

to  feel  soft  take  it  out  of  the  water  imme- 
diately. According  to  the  quality  of  the  as- 
paragus the  time  of  cooking  will  vary  from 
ten  to  twenty  minutes.  If  you  leave  the  as- 
paragus in  the  water  a  second  after  the  cook- 
ing is  finished  it  will  suck  in  the  water,  become 
flabby,  and  be  spoiled. 

For  cooking  asparagus  conveniently  and 
satisfactorily  a  special  caldron  is  necessary. 
The  bundle  of  asparagus  is  laid  on  a  drainer, 
which  fits  into  the  caldron,  and  enables  you 
to  lift  the  cooked  vegetable  out  of  the  water 
without  bruising  or  breaking  the  heads.  This 
caldron  has  a  lid,  and  may  be  covered.  In 
cooking  asparagus  there  is  no  question  of 
preserving  color. 

Asparagus  may  be  served  warm — not  pip- 
ing hot — or  tepid,  or  even  cold.  Warm  aspar- 
agus should  be  served  with  white  sauce  Hol- 
landaise,  the  sauce  being  served  apart  in  a 
sauce  boat,  and  not  poured  over  the  whole  dish. 
The  asparagus,  after  having  been  well  drained, 
should  be  served  in  a  dish  on  the  bottom  of 
which  is  placed  a  napkin  neatly  folded.  The 
object  of  serving  the  asparagus  on  a  napkin  is 
to  insure  perfect  draining ;  the  napkin  absorbs 
whatever  water  may  still  cling  to  the  stalks. 
In  some  unenlightened  districts  asparagus  is 


44  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

served  on  a  layer  of  toast,  which  fulfils  the 
same  object  as  the  napkin  and  absorbs  the 
water.  If  you  do  find  asparagus  served  on 
toast,  do  not  offer  to  eat  the  toast,  any 
more  than  you  would  offer  to  eat  the 
napkin. 

Silversmiths  and  crockery-makers  have  in- 
vented various  kinds  of  drainers  and  special 
rustic  dishes  for  serving  asparagus,  but  I 
have  not  yet  seen  one  that  approaches  per- 
fection. In  table  service,  as  in  cookery,  sim- 
plicity seems  always  more  desirable  than 
complexity. 

Serve  the  asparagus  on  a  long  dish,  arrang- 
ing the  bundle  longitudinally  on  the  napkin, 
just  as  it  came  out  of  the  caldron. 

For  serving  asparagus,  broad  silver  tongs 
are  made. 

To  eat  asparagus,  use  your  fingers.  Grasp 
the  stalk  boldly ;  dip  the  head  in  the  portion 
of  sauce  that  you  have  taken  on  your  plate ; 
bite  off  the  head  and  as  much  of  the  stalk 
as  will  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  teeth. 

Warm  asparagus  may  also  be  eaten  with  a 
simple  sauce  of  melted  butter. 

Tepid  and  cold  asparagus  requires  a  sauce 
of  oil,  vinegar,  pepper,  and  salt,  which  must 
be  served  in  a  sauce  boat  apart.     At  a  dinner 


ON  VEGETABLES.  45. 

without  ceremony  each  one  can  mix  this 
sauce  for  himself  on  his  plate.  But  whether 
a  small  or  a  large  quantity  is  mixed,  the  proc- 
ess is  the  same :  you  mix  up  the  salt  and 
pepper  in  a  small  quantity  of  vinegar ;  then 
you  add  five  or  six  times  as  much  oil ;  stir  up 
and  use,  dipping  each  stick  of  asparagus  into 
the  sauce  on  your  plate  before  conveying  it 
to  your  mouth.       

Artichokes  are  cooked  in  the  same  way  as 
asparagus,  and  served  with  the  same  sauce — 
warm,  with  white  sauce ;  cold,  with  oil  and 
vinegar.  N.B. — You  must  use  your  fingers 
to  eat  artichokes,  and  a  silver  knife  only  to 
separate  the  flower  from  the  heart,  ox  fond. 

In  spite  of  cooks  and  cook-books  I  feel 
convinced  that  neither  asparagus  nor  arti- 
chokes are  so  good  cold  as  they  are  when 
just  tepid ;  freshly  cooked  and  allowed  to 
cool  down  so  as  to  be  just  not  cold,  both 
these  vegetables  are  peculiarly  delicate  when 
eaten  with  a  sauce  of  oil  and  vinegar,  mixed 
on  your  plate  at  the  moment  of  eating. 

Artichokes  h  la  Barigoule,  —  Blanch  your 
artichokes — that  is  to  say,  parboil  them  in 
boiling  salted  water  (one  quarter  of  an  ounce 


46  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

of  salt  per  quart) ;  then  cool  them  off  with 
cold  water;  drain  and  remove  the  leaves  of 
the  heart,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  pull 
out  the  woolly  centre,  or  flower.  Season 
with  pepper  and  salt ;  place  them  in  a  fry- 
ing-pan, with  a  few  spoonfuls  of  olive  oil,  and 
fry  the  tips  of  the  leaves,  laying  the  arti- 
chokes in  the  pan  bottom  upwards. 

Then  you  take  a  sufficient  quantity  of  gar- 
nish, composed  of  mushrooms,  parsley,  shal- 
lots—  the  mushrooms  and  parsley  in  equal 
quantities ;  the  shallots  only  half  as  much — 
and  chop  very  finely.  Place  on  the  fire  in  a 
saucepan — with  butter  and  salt  and  pepper — 
the  shallots  first  of  all,  and  stir  with  a  spoon 
for  five  minutes ;  then  add  the  chopped  mush- 
rooms and  parsley,  and  stir  over  the  fire  an- 
other five  minutes.  Next  take  for  each  arti- 
choke the  value  of  one  ounce  of  bacon.  We 
will  suppose  that  you  are  cooking  four  arti- 
chokes ;  you  will  need  about  a  wineglassful 
of  herb  garnish,  to  which  you  will  add  four 
ounces  of  grated  bacon,  one  quarter  ounce  of 
butter,  one  quarter  ounce  of  flour,  and  a  wine- 
glassful  of  good  bouillon.  Place  all  these 
ingredients  in  a  saucepan  over  a  brisk  fire 
for  five  minutes,  and  stir  with  a  wooden 
spoon. 


ON  VEGETABLES.  47 

Then,  in  the  cups  formed  by  the  four  arti- 
chokes that  you  have  prepared  by  hollowing 
out  the  woolly  centre  you  place  a  quarter  of 
your  sauce ;  tie  a  string  round  each  one,  to 
hold  the  leaves  together ;  put  a  speck  of  ba- 
con on  the  top  of  each  one ;  arrange  them  in  a 
dish,  with  two  wineglassfuls  of  bouillon^  and 
cook  the  whole  for  twenty  minutes,  with  fire 
above  and  fire  below,  like  a  dish  au  gratin,  or 
else  in  an  oven.  Before  serving  squeeze  over 
each  artichoke  three  drops  of  orange  or  lemon 
juice. 

This  dish  is  composed  of  simple  ingredi- 
ents, but  it  requires  to  be  prepared  with  great 
care.  All  good  cooking  is  the  result  of  care ^ 
undivided  attention^  and  love  of  the  art. 


Green  Pease  h  la  Franqaise, — The  French 
call  green  ^QdiSQ.petits pois  or  "little  pease," 
"  young  pease."  They  must  be  gathered 
young.  The  English  eat  pease  when  they 
have  grown  hard  as  shot — that  is  to  say, 
when  they  are  no  longer  "  young  pease,"  but 
about  seed -pease.  So,  then,  we  will  take  a 
quart  of  young  and  tender  pease,  freshly 
shelled ;  put  them  in  a  two-quart  saucepan, 
with  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  first -quality 
butter  (N.B. —  You  cannot  achieve  superfine 


48  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

cooking  with  poor  butter.  So-called  kitchen- 
butter  is  an  abomination.  In  the  kitchen  you 
need  the  finest  and  most  delicate  butter^ ;  a 
wineglassful  of  water ;  two  ounces  of  white, 
small  onions ;  a  little  salt,  or  no  salt  if  the 
butter  is  already  salt ;  one  ounce  of  powdered 
sugar. 

Cover  your  saucepan  well,  and  stew  over  a 
moderate  fire  for  half  an  hour.  When  they 
are  cooked  taste  and  add  more  sugar  if  need- 
ful, and  about  a  quarter  of  a  pound  more 
butter  mixed  with  half  flour.  Work  your 
pease  round  in  the  saucepan  over  the  fire,  so 
that  the  flour  and  butter  may  get  thoroughly 
distributed,  and  then  serve. 

This  is  a  dish  to  be  served  and  eaten  alone, 
and  not  messed  up  on  a  plate  with  meat, 
gravy,  okra,  green-corn,  and  half  a  dozen  oth- 
er things. 

String  Beans  h  la  Frangaise, — Prepare  your 
beans,  which  should  be  young,  with  the  bean 
just  forming ;  when  eaten,  the  presence  and 
shape  of  the  bean  or  grain  itself  ought 
not  to  be  felt ;  what  we  desire  to  eat  is  the 
green  pod,  the  juicy  envelope  of  the  grain. 
Gather  the  beans  young.  The  preparation 
consists  in  pinching  of  the  ends,  removing 


ON  VEGETABLES.  49 

the  stringy  fibre  lengthwise,  and  slicing  the 
bean  slantingly  into  two  or  three  sec- 
tions. 

For  one  pound  of  green  beans  you  want  a 
pot  that  will  hold  nearly  a  gallon  of  water, 
in  which  you  will  put  half  an  ounce  of  salt. 
When  the  water  boils  put  in  your  beans, 
cook,  and  drain  them.  In  a  frying-pan  for 
sauteing,  you  melt  two  ounces  of  butter ;  then 
you  put  in  the  beans,  fry  them  for  seven  or 
eight  minutes  on  a  brisk  fire,  add  salt  and 
pepper  to  taste,  and  sprinkle  over  with  finely 
chopped  parsley  or  chervil.  A  teaspoonful 
of  lemon-juice  may  also  be  added  with  ad- 
vantage before  serving. 

The  French  make  great  use  of  lettuce  as  a 
vegetable,  and  a  most  excellent  vegetable  it 
is.  I  will  give  you  a  few  recipes  of  applica- 
tions of  the  cooked  lettuce  which  have  come 
under  my  notice. 

First  of  all,  an  amiable  Parisian  hostess, 
who  has  published  some  of  her  secrets  in  the 
*'  100  Recettes  de  Mile.  Francoise"  (Paris:  I. 
Renoult),  introduced  me  to 

Laitues  a  la  Crhne. — Take  the  hearts  of 
cabbage  lettuces,  wash  them,  and  bleach  them 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  boiling  salted 
4 


50  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

water.  (N.B. — Do  not  put  the  lid  on  your 
saucepan,  remembering  the  general  directions 
about  cooking  vegetables  and  preserving  their 
green  color.)  Next  take  the  lettuces  out  of  the 
boiling  water,  put  them  in  a  sieve,  throw  cold 
water  over  them,  and  let  them  drain  thor- 
oughly. Then,  in  a  dish  which  will  stand 
heat,  put  some  cream,  some  small  lumps  of 
butter,  and  finally  the  lettuce  hearts  ;  pour  on 
more  cream,  seasoned  with  salt  and  pepper, 
and  cover  with  a  thin  layer  of  cracker  crumbs. 
Cook  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter  in  a  mod- 
erate oven,  where  the  whole  will  simmer 
gently.  Serve  in  the  dish  in  which  it  has 
been  cooked- 

Laitues  aujus. — Take  four  or  six,  or  more, 
firm  cabbage  lettuces ;  strip  off  the  poor  outer 
leaves ;  wash  them,  and  bleach  them  for  ten 
minutes  in  boiling  salted  water,  without  any 
lid  on  the  pan.  Take  them  out  of  the  pan ; 
cool  them  by  throwing  cold  water  on  them ; 
drain  them,  and  press  them  in  a  sieve  until 
there  remains  not  a  drop  of  water.  Season 
them  with  the  least  speck  of  salt  on  each  let- 
tuce ;  put  them  in  a  saucepan ;  cover  them 
with  bouillon,  and  add  some  of  the  skimming 
of  the  pot  au  feu,  or  some  pieces  of  bacon, 


ON  VEGETABLES.  5 1 

a  savory  bouquet,  a  pricked  onion,  and  two 
cloves.  Cover  the  saucepan  closely  by  tying 
paper  over  it,  and  let  the  whole  simmer  for 
two  hours.  Drain  carefully,  and  serve  with 
gravy. 


VI. 
ON  RELISH  AND  SEASONING. 

"  The  fundamental  principle  of  all 
Is  what  ingenious  cooks  The  Relish  call; 
For  when  the  market  sends  in  loads  of  food 
They  all  are  tasteless  till  that  makes  them  good." 
"  T^e  Art  of  Cookery." 

The  worthy  cook  who  is  empress  of  my 
kitchen,  queen  of  my  stomach,  and,  therefore, 
mistress  of  my  humor,  won  my  confidence 
by  a  simple  remark  that  she  made  the  first 
time  I  had  friends  to  dinner  after  she  had 
entered  upon  her  duties.  "  Monsieur,"  she 
said,  for  she  is  of  Gaulish  origin  ;  "  monsieur, 
I  am  very  pleased  to  see  that  none  of  the 
gentlemen  last  night  touched  the  salt-cellar. 
I  could  not  desire  a  finer  compliment." 

If  I  or  my  guests  had  found  it  necessary 
to  ruffle  the  smooth  surface  of  the  salt-cellar, 
and  add  a  pinch  to  any  of  the  dishes,  it 
would  have  been  a  proof  that  my  cook  had 
not  succeeded  in  seasoning  her  dishes  to  the 
point. 


ON   RELISH   AND    SEASONING.  53 

A  cook  having  any  self-respect,  and  any 
respect  for  his  art,  has  a  right  to  feel  insulted 
if  a  guest  proceeds  to  powder  his  food  with 
salt  and  pepper  before  having  even  tasted  it. 
Such  a  barbarous  proceeding  implies  disas- 
trous social  antecedents  on  the  part  of  the 
guest,  unaccustomedness  to  delicate  eating,  or 
a  callousness  and  bluntness  of  palate  which 
renders  him  unworthy  to  taste  any  but  the 
rankest  food  and  the  most  scarifying  of  spir- 
ituous liquors. 

For  such  palates  as  these,  deadened  by  the 
abuse  of  tobacco  and  whiskey,  special  rel- 
ishes have  been  invented  of  a  penetrating  and 
fiery  nature,  fabricated  according  to  recipes 
bequeathed  by  deceased  noblemen,  and  sold 
in  bottles  decorated  with  strange  labels  and 
under  titles  which  I  will  not  enumerate. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  use  of  these  dia- 
bolical and  dyspepsia-producing  relishes  the 
contrivance  known  as  a  cruet-stand  has  been 
elaborated,  and  now,  for  years  and  years,  has 
figured  on  Anglo-Saxon  dinner- tables  as  a 
hideous  and  ever-present  reminder  of  the 
wretched  state  into  which  the  art  of  cookery 
has  fallen  in  Anglo-Saxon  countries. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  first  of  all  and 
above  all,  that  seasoning  is  the  business  of 


54  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

the  cook,  and  that  unless  the  relish  is  impart- 
ed to  the  food  during  the  process  of  cooking 
it  cannot  be  imparted  afterwards.  When 
your  meat  or  vegetables  are  served  on  the 
table  and  on  your  plate,  you  will  vainly 
sprinkle  them  with  salt  and  pepper  and 
sauces ;  you  will  simply  be  eating  meat  and 
vegetables  and  seasoning  matter,  but  you 
will  not  be  eating  seasoned  meat  or  seasoned 
vegetables. 

The  great  superiority  of  French  cooking  over 
all  other  cookery  lies  in  the  thorough  compre- 
hension of  the  rdle  and  methods  of  seasoning 
in  cookery. 

The  perfection  of  seasoning  brings  out  the 
peculiar  savor  of  each  article  of  food,  and 
never  allows  the  seasoning  to  usurp  the  place 
of  the  savor.  The  skill  of  the  cook  is  shown 
by  the  nicety  with  which  he  judges  his  pro- 
portions so  as  to  form  a  suave  whole,  in 
which  all  the  elements  are  harmonized  and 
none  allowed  to  dominate. 

It  is  in  the  seasoning  that  the  art  and  sen- 
timent of  the  cook  are  shown.  No  book  can 
teach  how  to  make  a  sauce  to  perfection ;  it 
is  almost  useless,  not  to  say  impossible,  to 
work  with  scales  and  measures  and  accord- 
ing to  nicely  figured  formulae ;  the  true  cook 


ON   RELISH   AND   SEASONING.  55 

works  by  experience  and  feeling.  A  true 
cook,  be  it  remembered,  is  an  artist,  and  not  a 
Johannes  Factotum. 


Relish  in  food  is  produced  by  various 
means. 

1.  By  the  simple  process  of  cooking,  as  in 

roasting,  grilling,  etc.,  where,  as  already 
explained,  the  cooking  develops  a  pecul- 
iar aroma,  agreeable  to  the  taste  and 
conducive  to  digestion,  because  it  ex- 
cites in  a  healthy  manner  the  secretion 
of  the  gastric  juices. 

2.  By  the  admixture  in  the  process  of  cook- 

ing of  aromatic  condiments,  spices,  sa- 
vory herbs,  and  salt. 

3.  By  sauces  properly  so  called. 

The  role  of  condiments  is  to  please  the  taste, 
to  excite  the  physical  energy  of  the  digestive 
tube,  and  to  increase  to  a  notable  extent  the 
secretions  of  its  different  parts.  Condiments, 
if  properly  used,  assure  digestion  and  hasten 
the  absorption  of  food  by  the  system. 

The  French  cooks  are  constantly  using  a 
bouquet  garni  as  a  means  of  seasoning.  This 
bouquet  is  composed  in  the  proportions  of 
one  ounce  of  green  parsley,  one  and  a  half 
pennyweights  of  thyme,  and  the  same  quan- 


56  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

tity  of  bay-laurel.  Wash  your  parsley,  roll 
up  your  thyme  and  laurel  into  a  little  bun- 
dle, fold  the  parsley  around,  and  bind  the 
whole  with  thread  or  cotton  into  a  little 
packet  about  two  inches  long.  Three  cloves 
may  or  may  not  be  added  to  this  bouquet, 
according  to  the  tastes  of  the  company.  The 
same  remark  holds  good  also  as  regards  the 
addition  of  a  young  onion. 

A  simple  bouquet  is  composed  of  chives 
and  parsley  tied  up  into  a  little  bundle. 

All  kinds  of  bouquets  must  be  removed 
from  the  dishes  in  the  kitchen  before  serving. 
Gouffe  gives  the  following  mixture  of  all- 
spice for  use  especially  in  seasoning  pasties, 
galantine,  and  other  cold  dishes. 
Take  one  quarter  ounce  thyme, 
"      one  quarter  ounce  bay-laurel, 
"     one  eighth  ounce  marjoram, 
*'      one  eighth  ounce  rosemary. 
Dry  these  four  herbs  thoroughly  by  artifi- 
cial heat,  and  when  they  are  thoroughly  dry 
pound  them  finely  in  a  mortar  with 
one  half  ounce  nutmeg, 
one  half  ounce  cloves, 
one  quarter  ounce  white  pepper-corns, 
one  eighth  ounce  cayenne  pepper. 
Pound  the  whole  finely,  sift,  and  keep  for 


ON   RELISH   AND   SEASONING.  5/ 

use  in  a  well-corked  bottle.  This  allspice  is 
used  alone  or  mixed  with  salt,  the  proportion 
being  four  times  as  much  salt  as  spice. 

Supposing  you  have  to  season  three  pounds 
of  galantine,  the  dose  required,  according  to 
Gouffe,  would  be  one  ounce  of  salt  and  spice 
mixed  in  the  above  proportions. 

The  best  way  of  seasoning  fish  whose  flesh 
is  not  naturally  full-flavored  or  extreme- 
ly delicate  is  to  cook  it  in  seasoned  wa- 
ter, or,  as  the  French  call  it,  in  a  court-bouillon. 


The  real  court-bouillon  is  made  thus :  On 
the  bottom  of  your  fish-kettle  lay  a  bed  of 
sliced  carrots,  sliced  onions,  green  parsley, 
thyme,  bay-laurel,  a  sliced  lemon  or  a  sliced 
orange,  and  some  whole  pepper,  say  twenty 
grains  (not  grains  in  weight,  but  grains  in  the 
botanical  sense).  On  this  bed  lay  your  fish, 
and  cover  it  with  half  white  wine  and  half 
water  (and  if  you  have  no  white  wine  use 
vinegar  or  verjuice,  two  or  three  wineglass- 
fuls  added  to  the  water).  Put  your  kettle  on 
a  moderate  fire,  and  as  soon  as  the  liquid  boils 
withdraw  it  immediately,  and  take  out  your 
fish,which  you  will  find  to  be  perfectly  cooked. 

Fish  must  always  be  put  into  cold  court- 
bouillon. 


58  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

The  court-bouillon  may  be  prepared  before- 
hand, and  cooled  down  before  the  fish  is  put  in ; 
the  court-bouillon  may  also  be  kept  and  used 
several  times,  provided  it  be  reboiled  every 
three  or  four  days,  a  little  water  being  added 
each  time  to  supply  loss  by  evaporation. 

Naturally  a  court-bouillon  prepared  before- 
hand will  savor  more  strongly  of  the  aromatic 
ingredients  in  it  than  a  new  court-bouillon. 

If  wine  is  abundant,  of  course  it  may  be 
substituted  for  water  almost  entirely. 

Remark  that  in  countries  where  wine  is  not 
commonly  used  for  kitchen  purposes  the  court- 
bouillon  may  be  made  quite  satisfactorily  with 
vinegar  and  lemons.  Even  in  France  many 
an  economical  housekeeper  will  not  sacrifice 
a  bottle  of  white  wine  to  boil  a  fish.  With 
wine,  of  course,  the  result  is  more  delicate  and 
richer.  But  wine  is  not  absolutely  necessary 
for  success. 

Both  fresh-water  and  sea  fish  may  be  ad- 
vantageously cooked  in  court-bouillon,  with 
the  exception,  of  course,  of  such  fine  kinds 
as  the  lordly  turbot. 

For  a  fish  like  pike,  for  instance,  you  can 
heighten  the  flavor  of  the  court-bouillon  by 
the  addition  of  a  little  ginger  and  a  few  cloves ; 
some  cooks  even  add  garlic,  but  to  my  mind 


ON  RELISH  AND   SEASONING.  59 

garlic  is  too  acrid  a  condiment  to  be  used  in 
cooking  any  kind  of  fish.  I  do  not  guarantee 
that  pike  cooked  thus  is  equal  to  a  pike  roast- 
ed according  to  the  directions  given  by  Izaak 
Walton,  which  is,  as  he  says,  "  a  dish  of  meat 
too.  good  for  any  but  anglers  or  very  honest 
men."  But  Izaak  Walton  forbids  the  appli- 
cation of  his  recipe  to  a  pike  less  than  three 
quarters  of  a  yard,  whereas  a  pike  of  only  a 
quarter  of  a  yard  long  may  be  cooked  in  a 
court-bouillon.  

Wine  is  of  great  utility  to  the  cook ;  and 
by  wine  I  mean  fermented  grape-juice,  not 
necessarily  Bordeaux  or  Burgundy  wine,  but 
Ohio  wine  or  Australian  wine,  provided  the 
sweeter  kinds  are  avoided. 

Even  unfermented  grape-juice  may  often 
be  employed  in  developing  flavor.  A  roast 
partridge  that  has  been  basted  with  the  fresh 
juice  of  white  grapes,  of  any  but  the  muscat 
kind,  is  a  fine  dish. 

All  game,  without  exception,  requires  the 
application  of  some  sour,  in  order  to  devel- 
op the  savor  thoroughly.  This  is  the  theo- 
retical explanation  of  the  custom  of  serving 
salad  with  this  course. 

For  making  most  of  the  fine  sauces  wine 


6o  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

is  as  indispensable  as  butter,  and  success  can 
only  be  obtained  if  both  articles  are  good. 
"  Kitchen  "-wine  and  "  kitchen  "-butter  are 
fatal  to  good  cookery.  The  cook  requires 
the  best  butter  and  good  ordinary  wine,  but 
not  Chateau  Yquem  or  Chateau  Lafitte  or 
Tokay.  Burgundy,  or  its  American  equiva- 
lent, for  kitchen  purposes,  needs  to  be  a 
strong  and  full-flavored  wine,  and  Bordeaux, 
or  its  American  equivalent,  a  sound  and  dry 
wine.  The  Madeira  and  Spanish  wines  used 
in  cooking  need  to  be  simply  unadulterated, 
but  not  necessarily  fine  and  dear  wines. 


The  matelote  of  fresh-water  fish  is  a  way 
of  cooking  in  wine  which  is  much  practised 
in  France,  where  at  every  river-side  inn  you 
may  see  the  sign  '■^Matelote  et  Friture.''  And 
a  noble  dish  it  is,  when  well  made.  The  finest 
matelotes  I  have  eaten  were  made  in  a  skillet 
hung  over  a  blazing  wood-fire  in  a  farm-house 
on  the  banks  of  the  Loire ;  and  half  the  secret 
of  success  seemed  to  be  in  the  fact  that  the 
tongues  of  flame  glided  freely  around  the  cal- 
dron, and  set  fire  to  the  boiling  wine  just  at 
the  critical  moment.  Over  an  ordinary  and 
comparatively  cramped  kitchen-fire  success  is 
only  to  be  obtained  by  more  careful  manipu- 
lation, and  this  is  the  way  you  must  proceed : 


ON  RELISH  AND   SEASONING.  6 1 

Take  an  eel  and  a  pike,  or  a  carp,  or  a 
perch,  or  a  barbel,  or  any  combinations  of 
these  fish  which  the  larder  may  offer,  even 
an  eel  alone,  or,  better,  an  eel  and  a  pike ; 
clean  them  and  cut  them  up  into  pie.ces  about 
two  inches  square.  Suppose  that  you  have 
two  good  pounds  of  fish.  First,  take  a  sauce- 
pan into  which  you  put  two  ounces  of  butter 
and  twenty  small  onions  peeled  and  blanched. 
Let  your  onions  get  browned  over  the  fire ; 
then  add  one  and  a  half  ounces  of  flour,  pep- 
per and  salt,  and  stir  for  five  minutes,  adding  a 
few  mushrooms  previously  browned  in  butter 
and  a  little  lemon-juice,  and  a  little  water  if 
the  mixture  needs  it.  Then  add  one  pint  of 
red  wine,  a  bouquet  garni,  a  clove  of  garlic, 
pepper  and  salt,  and  a  pint  of  good  bouillon 
or  meat-juice.  Cover  your  pot,  and  let  this 
mixture  simmer  twenty  minutes. 

Then  put  in  your  slices  of  eel  and  of  the 
less  tender  fish  (as  carp,  for  instance),  and 
cook  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Next  put  in  your  tender  fish,  add  a  wine- 
glassful  of  brandy,  and  cook  five  or  ten  min- 
utes longer.  Take  out  the  bouquet  and  the 
garlic,  and  serve  on  a  dish  with  the  onions 
and  sauce  poured  over  the  fish.  The  sauce 
will  be  creamy,  and  of  a  bluish-brown  color. 


62  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

(N.B. — Not  the  least  essential  thing  in  the 
above  recipe  is  the  meat-juice.  If  you  have 
not  meat-juice  or  good  bouillon  you  must  put 
two  pints  of  wine  instead  of  one.) 

Another  way  of  making  a  matelote  is  to 
put  the  fish  in  the  bottom  of  a  pan  with  a 
bouquet  garni  and  garlic  or  not,  as  you  please ; 
cover  the  fish  with  wine,  and  as  soon  as  the 
wine  boils  pour  in  half  a  glass  of  strong  bran- 
dy and  fire  the  whole.  Let  the  mixture  blaze 
and  cook  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then 
serve  on  a  dish  with  your  ragout  of  small  on- 
ions, flour  and  mushrooms  peppered,  salted, 
and  prepared  apart  in  a  pan,  as  described  in 
the  beginning  of  the  above  recipe. 

The  essence  of  the  matelote  lies  in  the  em- 
ployment of  wine  instead  of  water  to  stew 
the  fish  in ;  and,  as  already  stated,  complete 
success  can  only  be  achieved  by  the  happy 
combination  of  wine  and  the  juice  of  meat. 
The  onions,  mushrooms,  etc.,  are  merely  de- 
tails, but  indispensable  details,  in  the  season- 
ing and  thickening  of  the  sauce. 

(N.B. — Instead  of,  or  together  with,  butter, 
little  slices  of  bacon  may  be  used  to  brown 
the  onions.)  ' 

To  the  many  ways  of  preparing  oysters 


ON   RELISH  AND   SEASONING.  63 

may  be  added  the  following  recipes,  copied 
from  a  rare  and  valuable  seventeenth-century 
book  called  "  Les  D^lices  de  la  Campagne ; 
ou  est  enseign^  a  preparer  pour  I'usage  de  la 
vie  tout  ce  qui  croist  sur  la  terre  et  dans  les 
eaux.  Dedie  aux  Dames  menag^res  "  (Paris, 
1654).  In  those  days  oysters  were  eaten  raw, 
with  pepper ;  fried  in  the  half-shell,  with  a 
speck  of  butter  and  pepper  on  each  oyster, 
and  served,  when  cooked,  with  a  drop  of  ver- 
juice or  vinegar  and  a  bit  of  grated  nutmeg ; 
en  etuvee,  that  is  to  say,  detached  from  the 
shell  and  placed  in  a  pan  with  their  liquor, 
some  butter,  a  little .  pepper,  some  nutmeg, 
some  chives,  and  a  few  bits  of  orange  or 
lemon,  and  so  boiled  slowly,  and  served  with 
grated  bread-crumbs  round  the  dish;  en  fri- 
cassee in  a  frying-pan  with  a  roux  of  sliced  on- 
ion and  butter,  the  oysters  being  put  into  the 
roux  with  the  liquor,  and  when  they  are  al- 
most cooked  you  add  a  few  drops  of  vinegar, 
with  some  chopped  parsley,  and  even  a  lit- 
tle mustard  ;  drained  on  a  napkin,  peppered, 
dipped  in  batter,  and  fried  in  hot  lard,  then 
served  with  fried  parsley  round  the  dish  and 
an  orange  squeezed  over  them.  The  same 
precious  and  practical  little  book  tells  us  how 
to  pickle  oysters  by  taking  them  out  of  the 


64  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

shell,  placing  them  in  layers  in  a  jar  or  bar- 
rel, peppering  and  salting  each  layer,  and  add- 
ing bay-laurel,  cinnamon,  green  fennel,  and, 
if  you  are  rich  enough,  a  little  musk  or  am- 
ber. When  you  take  them  out  of  the  bar- 
rel for  use,  soak  them  awhile  if  they  are 
too  salt,  and  then  prepare  them  in  the  ways 
above  described,  or  eat  them  with  oil,  or  eat 
them  as  they  are.  These  pickled  oysters 
"  may  also  be  used  for  giving  flavor  to  ra- 
gouts and  roast  fowl  of  various  kinds,  and  for 
a  thousand  other  seasonings  which  the  cook 
shall  judge  fit." 


VII. 

ACETARIA,  OR   CONCERNING  THE 
DRESSING    OF  SALADS. 

A  SALAD  is  a  dish  composed  of  certain 
herbs  or  vegetables  seasoned  with  salt  and 
pepper,  oil  and  vinegar,  or  some  other  acid 
element. 

The  term  salad  is  also  applied  to  certain 
cold  dishes  composed  of  cold  meats,  fish,  etc., 
seasoned  like  a  salad,  and  combined  with 
salads. 

You  also  speak  of  an  orange  salad  when 
the  fruit  is  cut  into  slices  and  seasoned  in 
sweetened  alcohol. 

As  an  aliment,  salads  vary  greatly  in  nutri- 
tious quality,  according  to  their  composition 
and  constituent  elements.  The  leaf  salads, 
like  lettuce,  endive,  sorrel,  etc.,  contain  little 
but  water  and  mineral  salts. 

Of  all  the  methods  of  seasoning  a  salad 
proper,  the  simple,  so-called  French  dressing 
is  the  most  delicate,  the  most  worthy  of  the 
gourmet's  palate,  and  the  most  hygienic. 
5 


66  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Let  it  be  remarked  that  a  salad  may  be 
made  a  constant  element  in  the  alimentary 
regime ;  that  it  is  an  agreeable,  amusing,  and 
healthy  thing  to  eat ;  that  it  is  an  econom- 
ical and  democratic  dish,  and  not  a  dish 
merely  for  the  fashionable  world.  Incident- 
ally let  it  be  remarked  that  the  fashionable 
world  enjoys  no  privileges  in  the  art  of  cook- 
ing, except  so  far  as  concerns  certain  quintes- 
sential sauces  which  can  only  be  made  in 
elaborately  mounted  kitchens  and  at  consid- 
erable expense.  Indeed,  as  a  rule  the  fash- 
ionable world  fares  badly,  more  especially 
in  America,  where  the  services  of  a  "  caterer  " 
are  so  largely  used.  The  very  name  of  "  ca- 
terer "  has  something  gross  and  crude  about 
it  which  shocks  the  real  gourmet.  A  man 
or  a  woman  who  invites  you  to  dine  is  re- 
sponsible for  your  health  and  happiness  as 
long  as  the  hospitality  lasts  and  even  after- 
wards. But  how  few  hosts  have  a  right  sense 
of  the  respect  which  they  owe  to  their  guests. 
How  absolutely  hard-hearted,  uncharitable, 
and  egoistic  is  the  host  or  hostess  who  con- 
ceives a  dinner-party  merely  as  an  occasion 
for  show  and  ostentation,  has  his  or  her  table 
set  out  with  flowers  and  silver  and  crystal, 
and  orders  a  "  caterer,"  a  purveyor  of  food,  to 


DRESSING  SALADS.  ^'J 

serve  a  dinner  at  so  much  a  head.  What  a 
crude  state  of  civilization  this  condition  of 
things  impHes ! 

But,  to  return  from  this  digression,  let  us 
consider,  first  of  all,  salads  of  uncooked  veg- 
etables and  herbs.  Such  salads  are  made  of 
lettuce — either  cabbage  or  cos  lettuce,  which 
latter  the  French  call  Romaine^  and  which  is 
the  most  delicate — endive,  corn-salad — this 
is  a  species  of  valeriafia  or  rather  valerianella 
locusta,  called  by  the  French  Mdche — chicory, 
both  wild  and  curly,  sorrel,  celery,  garden 
and  water-cresses,  little  white  radishes  called 
in  French  raiponce^  beet-root,  tomatoes,  cu- 
cumbers. 

To  give  flavor  to  salads,  you  use  the  small 
and  fine  herbs  that  are  in  season,  such  as 
chervil,  chives,  tarragon,  pimpernel,  balm, 
mint,  etc.  In  the  spring  all  or  some  of  these 
seasoning  herbs  above  mentioned  may  be 
combined  and  eaten  as  a  salad  by  them- 
selves. Such  a  salad  bears  the  name  of 
Vendome. 

The  vegetables  and  herbs  that  are  to  be 
used  uncooked  must  have  been  specially  cul- 
tivated for  the  purpose ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
must  have  been  grown  rapidly,  abundantly 
watered,  and  properly  bleached  during  growth. 


68  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

These  conditions  are  necessary  to  render  the 
leaves  crisp  and  tender.  A  salad  that  re- 
quires powerful  and  prolonged  mastication 
is  a  nuisance,  and  to  eat  it  is  waste  of 
time.  Unless  a  lettuce  is  so  tender  that  it 
seems  to  melt  coolly  in  your  mouth,  you  may 
just  as  well  eat  a  cabbage  salad.  The  culti- 
vation of  vegetables  and  herbs  for  salads  is  a 
special  branch  of  market-gardening  requiring 
constant  care  in  watering,  forcing,  and  bleach- 
ing the  plants,  and  in  regulating  their  ripen- 
ing in  such  succession  that  there  may  be 
salads  ready  for  market  each  day,  neither  un- 
dergrown  nor  overgrown,  but  just  mature, 
juicy,  and  tender.  Salads  left  to  grow  by 
themselves  in  an  ordinary  kitchen-garden  are 
usually  tough  and  stringy ;  the  watering  has 
been  insufficient ;  the  sun  has  scorched  the 
epidermis  of  the  leaves  ;  the  rain  has  splashed 
the  soil  up  into  the  heart  of  the  plant ;  the 
fibre  is  dry  and  woody.  The  gardener  who 
cultivates  for  the  kitchen  must  tend  his 
plants  with  extreme  care,  in  order  to  grow 
them  satisfactorily  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  cook  and  of  the  gourmet. 

Having  obtained  a  fine  cos  lettuce,  we  will 
say  for  an  example,  how  are  we  to  make  it 
into  a  salad  ?    First  of  all,  strip  off  and  throw 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  69 

away  the  outer  leaves,  which  are  too  green 
and  tough,  and  which  are  often  bruised  and 
dirty.  Then  take  your  lettuce,  cut  it  into 
four  quarters,  beginning  at  the  base  ;  take  off 
the  larger  leaves  one  by  one  until  you  reach 
the  heart ;  carefully  wash  each  leaf  and  drain 
the  whole.  A  spherical  wire  basket  is  useful 
for  draining  a  salad  ;  you  put  the  leaves  in 
the  basket  and  swing  it  violently  to  and  fro, 
and  so  shake  the  water  out.  Get  your  leaves 
as  dry  as  possible ;  even  wipe  them  with  a 
towel  after  having  shaken  them  in  the  wire 
basket — the  reason  being  that  whenever  there 
is  any  water  left  on  the  leaves  the  dressing 
will  not  get  distributed.  The  lettuce  having 
been  well  washed  and  dried,  you  arrange  the 
leaves  loosely  in  the  salad-bowl,  which  should 
be  large  and  roomy,  say  about  one  and  a 
half  times  the  volume  of  the  mass  of  the 
salad,  in  order  that  you  may  have  plenty  of 
room  to  turn  it  during  the  seasoning  process. 
On  the  top  of  the  salad  you  lay  a  handful  of 
seasoning  herbs,  chervil  and  chives  and  a 
sprig  of  tarragon.  In  this  state  the  salad  is 
served  if  it  is  to  be  seasoned  at  table;  in 
any  case  the  salad  must  not  be  seasoned  un- 
til a  few  minutes  before  it  is  eaten,  with  the 
reserve  to  be  made  further  on. 


70  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Now  we  come  to  the  operation  of  sea- 
soning and  mixing.  The  tools  needed  are  a 
salad-spoon  and  fork,  and  the  best  are  the 
simplest  and  the  cleanest,  namely,  a  spoon 
and  fork  of  boxwood.  Beware  of  the  dread- 
ful inventions  of  artistic  silversmiths.  In 
table-service  it  often  happens  that  the  highest 
luxury  is  the  extremest  simplicity.  First 
of  all,  you  take  up  with  your  fingers  as  much 
of  the  seasoning  herbs  as  you  think  fit,  and 
with  a  knife  cut  them  up  finely  over  the 
salad-bowl ;  then  you  take  your  salad-spoon 
and  put  into  it  salt  and  pepper  in  sufficient 
quantity ;  then  you  pour  a  little  vinegar  into 
the  spoon  and  stir  the  salt  and  pepper  with 
the  fork  until  the  salt  dissolves  and  the  pep- 
per gets  well  mixed  with  the  vinegar  ;  then 
you  sprinkle  this  mixture  over  your  salad  and 
turn  it  with  the  spoon  and  fork  in  order  to 
distribute  the  seasoned  vinegar  and  the 
chopped  herbs  as  thoroughly  as  possible  over 
every  leaf ;  finally,  you  measure  out  so  many 
spoonfuls  of  oil  and  turn  your  salad  again 
and  again  until  the  oil  is  fairly  distributed 
over  every  leaf.  The  salad  is  then  ready  to 
be  eaten. 

As  regards  the  quantities  of  salt,  pepper, 
oil,  vinegar,  and  fine  herbs,  it  is  impossible  to 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  7 1 

be  precise,  the  delicacy  of  the  human  pal- 
ate varies  so  widely,  according  to  the  climate 
and  according  to  national  and  individual  hab- 
its. It  will  always  be  best  to  gauge  the  sea- 
soning by  the  most  delicate  palate  at  table. 
In  short,  the  quantities  of  salt,  pepper,  and 
vinegar  will  vary  greatly  according  to  indi- 
vidual tastes,  and  also  according  to  the 
strength  of  the  salt,  the  pepper,  and  particu- 
larly of  the  vinegar.  To  my  mind,  any  man- 
ufactured vinegar  is  too  strong  for  fine  let- 
tuce salad,  and,  instead  of  vinegar,  I  use 
lemon-juice.  Indeed,  for  all  uncooked  salads 
I  prefer  lemon-juice  to  vinegar;  and  unless 
one  can  make  sure  of  obtaining  real  wine 
vinegar,  I  should  certainly  use  lemon-juice 
for  all  salad  dressing.  Lemon -juice  is  the 
most  delicate  and  deliciously  perfumed  acid 
that  Nature  has  given  the  cook.  As  for  the 
pepper,  never  use  the  powdered  pepper  that 
you  buy  at  the  grocer's,  and  which  has  gener- 
ally lost  its  flavor  before  it  reaches  the  depths 
of  the  pepper-castor.  The  only  pepper  wor- 
thy to  titillate  the  papillae  of  a  civilized 
man  is  that  ground  out  of  the  pepper-corn, 
at  the  moment  of  use,  in  a  little  hand-mill. 
Here,  again,  we  must  beware  of  the  inven- 
tions of  the  silversmiths,  none  of  which  are 


72  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

SO  practical  and  handy  as  the  simple  wooden 
mill. 

In  describing  the  process  of  dressing  a  let- 
tuce salad  I  mixed  the  salt  and  pepper  in 
vinegar  and  poured  the  oil  on  last  of  all. 
This  rule  is  not  absolute.  Some  mix  the 
pepper  and  salt  in  oil,  but  this,  I  am  con- 
vinced, is  a  mistake,  because  the  salt  does 
not  readily  dissolve  in  oil,  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  condiments  is  less  complete.  But 
as  regards  oil  first  or  vinegar  first,  the  choice 
is  difficult.  In  point  of  fact,  a  salad  must  al- 
ways be  a  compromise :  wherever  a  leaf  is 
smeared  over  with  oil  the  vinegar  will  not 
rest,  and  wherever  the  vinegar  rests  on  a 
leaf  the  oil  will  not  stay.  If  you  pour  your 
vinegar  on  first  the  salad  will  have  a  sharper 
and  more  piquant  taste ;  if  you  apply  the 
oil  first  the  dressing  will  be  more  deli- 
cate. 

In  order  to  make  a  good  lettuce  salad  you 
require  good  lettuce,  good  salt,  good  pepper, 
good  vinegar  or  lemon-juice,  and  olive  oil  of 
the  best  quality;  and  then  if  you  do  not  pay 
careful  attention  to  every  detail  of  the  prep- 
aration, dressing,  and  mixing,  your  salad  will 
not  be  a  success.  Good  materials,  good  meth- 
ods, intelligence,  and  attention  are  as  neces- 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  73 

sary  in  salad-making  as  in  any  other  branch 
of  the  cook's  art. 

Note  also  that  in  cookery  you  cannot  ab- 
breviate the  processes;  for  instance,  I  have 
read,  in  a  cook-book  written  by  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  woman,  that  the  best  way  to  operate 
is  "  to  mix  the  pepper  and  salt,  the  oil,  the 
chopped  chives,  and  the  vinegar  all  togeth- 
er, and  when  well  mingled  to  pour  the  mixt- 
ure over  the  salad,  or  place  the  salad  over  it 
and  mix  all  together."  This  is  rank  heresy. 
The  mixture  thus  produced  would  be  a  vis- 
cous liquid,  a  sort  of  half-made  mayonnaise^ 
utterly  different  in  consistency  and  taste 
from  the  distribution  of  oil  and  vinegar  each 
separately. 

For  convenience  it  may  be  noted  that  a 
salad  may  be  oiled  an  hour  or  more  before 
it  is  served.  If  you  have  plenty  of  hands  in 
the  kitchen  you  may  have  each  leaf  oiled  sep- 
arately with  a  brush,  which  is  a  very  ideal 
way  of  proceeding.  Beware^  however^  of  put- 
ting salt  on  the  salad  before  it  is  served^  or 
vinegar  either ;  the  salt  would  draw  all  the 
water  out  of  the  salad  and  leave  it  limp  and 
flimsy,  while  the  acid  would  eat  into  the 
leaves  and  reduce  them  to  a  pulpy  state. 

A  salad  of  Romaine  lettuce  is  so  delicate 


74  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

that  it  admits  of  no  mixtures  or  garnishings. 
A  salad  of  ordinary  cabbage  lettuce  may  be 
garnished  with  hard-boiled  eggs,  shelled  and 
cut  in  four,  also  with  olives. 

Tarragon  vinegar,  that  is  vinegar  in  which 
a  branch  of  tarragon  is  left  to  soak,  may  be 
used  preferably  to  the  fresh  leaves  of  tar- 
ragon for  salad-dressing. 

Vinegar  for  dressing  salads  may  be  pre- 
pared also  as  follows :  In  the  bottom  of  an 
earthen  pitcher  put  a  handful  of  tarragon, 
half  as  much  garden-cress,  half  as  much  cher- 
vil, some  fresh  pimpernel  leaves,  and  one 
clove  of  garlic.  Over  this  pour  one  gallon 
of  vinegar,  let  it  infuse  a  week,  clarify,  and 
bottle  for  use. 

In  preparing  a  salad  of  curly  chicory,  be- 
ware of  allowing  the  leaves  to  stand  in  water, 
otherwise  they  will  become  hard  ;  the  same 
remark  applies  to  celery. 

For  seasoning  a  salad  of  curly  chicory,  pro- 
ceed in  the  manner  above  described  for  the 
usual  French  dressing,  omitting  only  the 
chives,  but  before  turning  the  salad,  put  in  a 
chapon^  a  Gascony  capon  as  it  is  called.  This 
is  a  small  crust  of  bread  about  an  inch  square, 
rubbed  over  with  garlic.  During  the  mixing, 
this  crust,  impregnated  with  the  perfume  of 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  75 

garlic,  but  without  its  rankness,  comes  into 
light  contact  with  every  leaf,  and  communi- 
cates to  the  whole  a  slight  aroma  of  the 
onion,  so  dear  to  the  Gascons,  and  to  all  Lat- 
in men.  You  may  or  may  not  like  this  aro- 
ma, but,  in  any  case  do  not  forget  the  chapon^ 
the  perfumed  crust,  as  a  means  of  communi- 
cating flavors  very  lightly. 

In  cookery  we  learn  the  eternal  principles, 
and  each  one  composes  according  as  he  has 
more  or  less  imagination.  I  have  explained 
the  way  of  preparing  and  dressing  a  lettuce 
salad  with  oil  and  vinegar  in  the  French 
style.  This  description  will  serve  as  a  type 
and  basis,  which  may  be  applied  to  various 
simple  and  compound  salads  of  uncooked, 
and  also  of  cooked  vegetables,  some  of  which 
I  briefly  note. 

One  of  the  finest  salads,  to  be  eaten  either 
alone  or  with  game,  especially  partridges  or 
wild  duck,  is  a  mixture  of  celery,  beet-root, 
and  corn-salad — if  corn-salad  cannot  be  ob- 
tained, water-cress  will  make  a  poor  substi- 
tute, when  broken  into  small  tufts.  The 
beets  are  cut  into  slices  one  sixteenth  of  an 
inch  thick,  the  celery,  which  must  be  young 
and  tender,  and  thoroughly  white,  should  be 
cut  into  pieces  an  inch  long,  and  then  sliced 


^6  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

lengthwise  into  two  or  three  pieces.  (N.B. — 
Select  only  the  slender  inside  branches  of 
celery.)  This  salad  will  require  plenty  of  oil, 
and  more  acid  than  a  lettuce  salad,  because 
of  the  sweetness  and  absorbent  nature  of  the 
beet-root.  The  general  seasoning,  too,  must 
be  rather  high,  because  the  flavors  of  the 
celery  and  of  the  beet  are  pronounced. 

A  potato-salad  ought  not  to  be  made  with 
cold  boiled  potatoes,  as  the  cook-books  gen- 
erally state,  even  the  best  of  them.  A  po- 
tato-salad ought  not  to  be  made  with  pota- 
toes that  have  remained  over  from  a  previous 
meal.  The  potatoes  must  be  boiled  in  salt 
water  expressly  for  the  salad  ;  allowed  to 
cool,  sliced  into  the  salad-bowl,  and  seasoned 
in  the  French  style  with  oil  and  vinegar, 
served  and  eaten  while  still  almost  tepid.  A 
potato-salad  should  be  abundantly  garnished 
with  finely  chopped  herbs,  chervil,  chives, 
and  a  suspicion  of  tarragon  ;  furthermore,  as 
the  floury  nature  of  the  potatoes  absorbs 
the  vinegar  rapidly,  in  order  to  make  up  the 
quantity  of  acid  liquid  needful  for  success, 
throw  in  a  little  white  wine,  say  three  or  four 
times  as  much  white  wine  as  you  have  used 
of  vinegar  or  lemon-juice. 

The     Japanese    salad    invented    by    the 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  7/ 

younger  Dumas,  and  celebrated  in  his  play 
of  "  Francillon,"  is  a  potato-salad  as  above 
described,  with  the  addition  of  some  mussels 
cooked  in  a  court-bouillon  flavored  with  cel- 
ery. This  salad  is  served  with  a  layer  of 
sliced  truffles  on  the  top,  and  the  truffles 
ought  to  have  been  cooked  in  champagne 
rather  than  in  Madeira. 

Another  potato-salad  worthy  of  respectful 
attention  consists  of  potatoes  thinly  sliced,  a 
pound  of  truffles  cooked  in  white  wine  and 
thinly  sliced,  two  red  herrings  boned  and 
broken  up  into  small  flakes.  The  dressing 
is  a  good  white  mayonnaise^  with  a  dash  of 
mustard.  This  salad  requires  to  be  seasoned 
and  mixed  some  six  hours  before  it  is  served. 

For  a  salad  of  cooked  vegetables,  or,  as  it 
is  also  called,  a  mac^doiney  you  need  freshly 
and  expressly  cooked  vegetables:  potatoes, 
string-beans,  lima  or  haricot  beans,  pease, 
cauliflower,  carrots,  turnips,  parsnips,  beet- 
root, hearts  of  artichokes,  asparagus  tops,  or 
as  many  of  these  ingredients  as  you  can  com- 
mand. These  different  vegetables  must,  of 
course,  have  been  cooked,  each  separately,  in 
salt  water ;  then  plunged  into  cold  water  in 
order  to  prevent  them  from  turning  yellov/ ; 
and  then  carefully  drained  before  being  ar- 


78  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ranged  ornamentally  in  the  salad-bowl.  (N.B. 
— Drain  carefully,  for  any  residue  of  water  im- 
pairs the  success  of  the  salad.)  Certain  of 
the  above  vegetables  may  be  cut  into  dice 
or  lozenges  before  being  put  into  boiling 
water  to  cook. 

A  macedoine  may  be  seasoned  either  with 
oil  and  vinegar,  with  a  white  mayonnaise,  or 
with  a  green  mayonnaise  h  la  ravigote. 

For  fish  and  meat  salads,  for  which  recipes 
abound,  the  mayonnaise  dressing  is  to  be 
used.  In  America,  the  mayonnaise  dressing 
seems  to  be  used  for  all  kinds  of  salad ;  in 
England,  too,  there  is  a  ready-made  white 
abomination  sold  in  bottles  under  the  name 
of  salad-dressing.  I  call  attention  to  these 
facts  only  to  disapprove.  The  gourmet  will 
make  a  distinction  between  salads  proper 
and  mixed  salads  containing  flesh  and  strong 
elements,  and  the  former  he  will  prepare 
with  oil  and  vinegar,  while  he  will  season  the 
more  heavy  and  substantial  compounds  with 
a  heavier  and  more  strongly  spiced  dress- 
ing. 

The  making  of  mayonnaise  sauce  has  been 
frequently  described  in  American,  cook-books, 
and  yet  in  two  that  I  have  before  me,  one 
dated  1886,  and  the  other  1887,  the  recipes 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  79 

are  either  incomplete  or  wanting  in  clear- 
ness, so  that  I  repeat  the  directions,  seri- 
atim. 

Take  a  soup-plate  or  shallow  bowl,  a 
wooden  or  a  silver  fork,  fine  olive  oil,  vin- 
egar, salt,  pepper,  mustard  already  mixed, 
fresh  eggs,  and  some  one  to  help  you  at  the 
critical  moment.  You  will  fix  the  number 
of  eggs  according  to  the  quantity  of  sauce 
you  desire,  the  proportion  being  a  quarter  of 
a  pound  of  oil  to  each  egg.  In  your  soup- 
plate  put  the  yolk  of  one  or  more  eggs,  fak- 
ing- care  to  remove  the  germ  and  all  the  zvhite  ; 
beat  your  yolk  well  for  nearly  a  minute  by 
stirring  it  always  in  the  same  direction  ;  then 
add  oil,  drop  by  drop,  about  a  teaspoonful 
at  a  time,  and  never  adding  more  oil  until 
the  preceding  quantity  has  becorhe  thorough- 
ly amalgamated  with  the  egg\  remember 
that  the. stirring  must  go  on  absolutely  with- 
out interruption,  and  always  in  the  same  di- 
rection ;  at  every  eighth  spoonful  of  oil  add 
a  few  drops  of  vinegar,  a  pinch  of  salt,  a 
pinch  of  pepper,  a  spot  of  mustard.  The  per- 
son who  is  helping  you  will  drop  these  in- 
gredients into  the  sauce  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand, while  you  keep  on  turning  assiduously. 
You  continue   this  process,  adding  vinegar, 


80  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

condiments,  and  oil  until  you  have  exhausted 
your  quantity  of  oil;  then  you  taste  and 
heighten  the  seasoning  or  the  piquancy,  as 
occasion  may  dictate. 

Some  people  whose  palates  are  jaded  add 
cayenne  pepper  to  the  seasoning.  In  some 
American  books  I  have  seen  the  addition  of 
sugar  recommended.  To  this  latter  addition 
I  am  absolutely  opposed ;  it  is  ridiculous 
and  useless. 

If,  by  ill-luck,  the  mayonnaise  curdles  while 
you  are  making  it,  stop  at  once  ;  start  another 
Q,g^  in  a  clean  plate,  and  add  your  curdled 
sauce  by  degrees  to  the  new  sauce,  and  the 
whole  will  come  out  good,  yellow,  and  with 
the  consistency  of  very  rich,  thick  cream. 
Provided  the  oil  and  the  eggs  used  are  in 
normal  conditions  of  freshness,  the  curdling 
or  decomposition  of  the  amalgam  can  only 
be  due  to  sudden  excess  of  oil  or  of  vinegar, 
so  that  in  remixing  you  must  moderate  the 
one  or  the  other  accordingly. 

Green  mayonnaise  is  the  above  sauce  with 
the  addition  of  three  tablespoonfuls  of  ra- 
vigote  for  each  quarter  of  a  pound  of  oil. 
Ravigote  is  chervil,  tarragon,  common  garden- 
cress,  and  pimpernel,  cooked  for  two  minutes 
in  boiling  salt-water,  then  plunged  in  cold 


DRESSING  OF  SALADS.  8 1 

water,  drained,  pounded  in  a  mortar,  and 
strained. 

A  less  perfect  green  mayonnaise  may  be 
made  by  simply  adding  to  the  sauce  a  hand- 
ful of  very  finely  chopped  chervil  mixed  in 
a  spoonful  of  tarragon  vinegar. 

To  color  mayonnaise  green,  do  not  use 
boiled  and  mashed  green  pease,  as  I  have 
seen  recommended  in  a  cook-book  which  I 
need  not  mention.  The  reason  is,  that  in  a 
creamy  sauce  of  the  nature  of  mayonnaise, 
we  should  be  offended  if  we  felt  the  rough- 
ness of  any  farinaceous  matter  intruding  itself 
upon  the  palate.  Spinach  would  be  a  less 
objectionable  coloring  matter.  But  unless 
you  can  do  the  thing  properly,  by  means  of 
a  ravigote  which  has  its  special  flavor  and 
season,  why  attempt  to  color  your  mayon- 
naise ?  Mere  coloring,  by  make-shift  means, 
will  impair  your  sauce,  instead  of  improving 
it.  To  the  eye,  a  yellow  mayonnaise  is  just 
as  pleasing  as  a  green  one. 

Some  one  may  object  that  we  have  a  red 
mayonnaise.  True,  but  red  mayonnaise  is 
not  a  decorative  fancy,  it  is  a  quintessential 
compound  made  by  pounding  the  coral  of  a 
lobster,  and  mixing  the  red  puree  thus  ob- 
tained with  ordinary  white  mayonnaise.  This 
6 


82  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

red  mayonnaise  is  intended  to  make  the 
serving  of  the  lobster  more  complete,  and 
not  for  show  or  table  decoration. 

hi  good  cooking  everything  has  a  reason. 


VIII. 
THE  THEORY  OF  SOUPS, 

"  Soup,"  says  Brillat-Savarin, "  rejoices  the 
stomach,  and  disposes  it  to  receive  and  digest 
other  food." 

The  gourmet  looks  upon  soup  as  a  prepar- 
atory element  in  a  refined  dinner ;  he  takes  a 
small  quantity  of  it  only,  and  does  not  ask 
for  a  second  helping;  he  requires  it  to  be 
served  hot,  and  not  lukewarm,  and  in  deep 
soup-plates,  and  not  in  bowls,  A  bowl  of 
soup  may  be  welcome  to  a  traveller  or  to  a 
simple  eater,  who  wants  merely  to  satisfy  his 
hunger  by  quantities  of  nourishment.  Re- 
member always  that  there  is  a  difference  be- 
tween dining  and  feeding. 

The  great  fault  with  the  most  popular  Eng- 
lish soups,  such  as  ox-tail,  turtle,  mock-turtle, 
mulligatawny,  etc.,  is  their  strength  and  heav- 
iness. To  begin  dinner  by  absorbing  a  large 
portion  of  these  preparations  implies  coarse- 
ness of  conception  and  prodigious  digestive 
powers. 


84  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

When  I  hear  the  voice  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
waiter  pronouncing  behind  my  chair  the  la- 
conic formula,  "  Thick  or  clear,  sir  ?"  my  heart 
sinks  as  I  think  of  the  poverty  of  his  wit  and 
the  grossness  of  the  distinction  he  makes. 
Are  there,  then,  but  two  soups  in  the  world? 
What  kind  of  thick  soup?  What  kind  of 
clear  soup  ?  Know,  good  Anglo-Saxon  wait- 
er, that  although  I  take  only  a  ladleful  of 
soup,  I  require  it  to  be  perfection  of  its  kind — 
a  poem,  a  dream — something  suave  and  com- 
forting, exceedingly  pure  in  flavor.  I  neither 
want  slops  nor  heavy  messes  charged  with 
catsup  and  spices  and  salt  and  pepper. 
"Thick"  and  "clear"  is,  certainly,  a  broad 
distinction  that  may  be  made,  but,  as  we 
have  to  borrow  so  much  from  the  French 
in  this  gastronomic  art,  we  cannot  do  bet- 
ter than  employ  their  terms  for  extracts, 
compounds,  and  reductions,  and  classify  our 
soups,  or  potageSy  as  consommes,  purees,  or 
cremes. 

Soup,  we  must  never  forget,  is  intended  to 
prepare  the  stomach  for  the  dinner  that  is  to 
follow.  Heavy  soups  are,  therefore,  inadmissi- 
ble, because  they  constitute  meals  in  them- 
selves, and  encroach  upon  the  domain  of  the 
dinner  proper,  which,  as  we  have  seen  in  pre- 


THE  THEORY  OF  SOUPS.  85 

vious  pages,  is  the  grand  event  in  our  mate- 
rial daily  life. 

In  no  branch  of  cookery  has  the  imagina- 
tion of  fanciful  cooks  been  so  industrious  as 
in  the  combination  and  naming  of  soups.  As 
we  have  over  one  hundred  fairly  distinct  va- 
rieties of  soup,  it  is  desirable  to  avoid  fancy 
names  that  convey  no  meaning,  such  as  the 
names  of  princes  and  statesmen,  and  to  call 
these  soups  by  titles  that  give  some  idea  of 
their  composition.  In  this  matter  clearness 
and  simplicity  are  desirable,  and  the  example 
of  Gouffe  is  to  be  followed  in  mentioning  al- 
ways the  characteristic  ingredient  of  the  soup, 
thus :  potage  h  Voseilley  consomme  aux  pdtes 
(Tltalie,  soupe  aux  choux,  puree  d'asperge,  etc. 

Potage,  or  soup,  is  the  generic  term,  though 
in  French  soupe  is  reserved  for  such  soups  as 
are  served  with  bread  in  them,  while  potage 
is  applied  to  soups  without  bread. 

Potages  are  divided  into  gras  and  maigreSy 
according  as  they  have  been  prepared  with 
or  without  meat. 

Potages  gras  are  made  with  bouillons  or 
decoctions  of  all  kinds  of  butchers*  meat, 
fowl,  fish,  and  crustaceans.  In  the  same  way 
potages  maigres  are  made  from  all  sorts  of 
vegetables. 


86  .   DELICATE  FEASTING. 

The  name  pur^ej  or  creme,  is  given  to  thick 
soups  made  of  alimentary  substances  crusted 
or  pounded,  such  as  game,  pease,  beans,  len- 
tils, asparagus,  etc.  The  soups  are  gener- 
ally very  nourishing,  but  not  easily  digest- 
ible. 

Consomme  is  the  name  given  to  the  supreme 
result  of  the  decoction  of  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble matter ;  it  is  a  perfect  bouillon^  a  bouillon 
consomme.  In  the  cook-books  you  will  find 
directions  for  making  the  ordinary  consomme, 
composed  of  the  juices  of  beef,  veal,  and 
fowls  decocted  in  grand  bouillon,  or  fine  stock, 
and  also  for  making  consomme  de  volaille, 
consomme  de  gibier,  and  consommes  of  vegeta- 
bles. 

Consomme  is  necessary  for  making  fine 
soups,  but  for  household  cookery  the  good 
ordinary  stock  is  sufficient.  (N.B. — Without 
good  beef-stock  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
dinner  worthy  of  the  name.)  Stock  is  con- 
stantly required  in  the  most  simple  opera- 
tions of  cookery.  The  aversion  of  the  An- 
glo-Saxon cook  to  making  stock  is  one  of  the 
main  sources  of  his  inferiority.  Extract  of 
meat  does  not  take  the  place  of  stock.  Extracts 
of  meat  should  be  very  sparingly  used  in  a  well" 
regulated  kitchen,  and  extracts  of  coffee  never. 


THE  THEORY  OF  SOUPS.  Sy 

As  a  rule,  in  cookery,  avoid  new  inven- 
tions, scientific  improvements,  and  every- 
thing that  recommends  itself  in  the  name 
of  Progress.  Good  cooking,  like  good  paint- 
ingy  is  a  question  of  genius  and  sentiment. 

Note  that  stock,  or  bouillon,  is  not  an  ali- 
ment -,  the  so-called  potages  gras,  which  have 
a  basis  of  bouillony  are  not  essentially  ali- 
ments ;  in  general,  the  soups  that  are  served 
at  a  scientific  dinner  are  not  aliments.  As 
we  have  said  above,  soup  is,  theoretically, 
merely  a  preparation  for  the  dinner ;  it 
is  a  consolation  to  the  hungry  stomach,  and 
at  the  same  time  an  appetizer  and  a  stimu- 
lant. 

The  decoction  of  meat  and  vegetables 
which,  under  the  names  of  consomme  or  bouil- 
lon, forms  the  basis,  if  not  the  whole  sub- 
stance, of  meat-soups,  or  potages  gras,  is  sim- 
ply an  aromatic  and  exciting  liquid  of  agree- 
able flavor,  very  poor  in  organic  alimentary 
matter,  but  very  rich  in  mineral  salts. 

In  the  long  process  of  cooking  needed  to 
make  bouillon  the  eminently  nutritious  prin- 
ciples of  the  meat  have  been  annihilated, 
and  deprived  of  all  their  qualities  of  organic 
nutriment.  Bouillon  contains,  in  the  way  of 
assimilable  substances,  only  a  small  quan- 


88  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

tity  of  grease,  some  mineral  salts,  and  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  gelatine. 

The  researches  of  modern  chemistry  have 
shown  that  gelatine  has  little  or  no  alimen- 
tary virtues,  but  that  it  is  certainly  "  peptoge- 
nic,"  that  is  to  say,  it  excites  the  stomach  to 
activity. 

The  stimulating  power  of  bouillon  is  chiefly 
due  to  creatine^  which  has  almost  the  same 
chemical  composition  as  caffeine,  and  passes 
through  the  system  without  being  absorbed 
at  all. 

Bouillon  is  also  rich  in  salts  of  potash.  The 
chemists  tell  us  that  osmazome  consists,  as  far 
as  we  can  find  out,  of  creatine,  inosic  acid, 
and  mineral  salts,  lactates,  phosphates,  chlo- 
rures  of  potassium,  calcium,  sodium,  etc. 

Bouillon  restores  a  man  immediately  after 
drinking  it,  like  tea  or  coffee.  It  is  thus  es- 
sentially an  appetizer  and  a  stimulant,  but 
not  an  aliment. 

In  devising  a  menu  and  in  regulating  one's 
desires,  the  above-mentioned  points  should  be 
borne  in  mind.  By  the  addition  of  all  kinds 
of  alimentary  products,  and  by  the  various 
combinations  to  which  purees  and  crimes  lend 
themselves,  the  soup  may  be  made  a  meal  in 
itself.     But  in  our  "Art  of  DeHcate  Feast- 


THE  THEORY  OF  SOUPS.  89 

ing"  the  theory  of  soups  is  that  they  should 
play  the  rdle  of  stimulants,  of  appetizers,  of 
soothers  of  the  impatient  stomach. 

At  a  dinner  of  any  ceremony  two  soups 
ought  to  be  served,  one  of  the  liquid  kind 
and  the  other  of  a  creamy  nature.  In  the 
meat-soups — the  simple  bouillon  or  the  more 
quintessential  consommes — the  qualities  which 
the  gourmet  demands  are  limpidity,  succu- 
lence, and  purity  of  aroma,  unimpaired  by 
violent  or  piquant  seasoning.  In  the  early 
stages  of  the  feast  the  palate  is  offended  by 
too-ardent  appeals.  The  qualities  required 
in  purees  and  cremes  are  smoothness  and 
lightness,  fineness  of  taste,  perfect  material, 
amalgamation  of  all  the  elements,  and  the 
preservation  and  development  of  the  dis- 
tinctive savors  of  the  different  constituent 
substances. 

The  Englishman  proverbially  says,  "  I  don't 
like  slops;"  by  which  he  expresses  a  gen- 
eral disapproval  of  soups.  If  his  experience 
has  been  Hmited  to  England  I  agree  with 
him  heartily.  With  the  exception  of  the 
very  heavy  national  soups  of  the  turtle  or 
ox-tail  kind,  the  English  soups  are  often,  if 
not  generally,  nothing  but  "  slops."  Soups 
require  care,  method,  and  intelligence  on  the 


90  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

part  of  the  cook  who  undertakes  to  make 
them,  and  also  that  quaHty  which  I  have  so 
frequently  insisted  upon  as  necessary  for  the 
highest  achievements  in  the  kitchen,  namely, 
sentiment. 


IX. 

PRACTICAL  SOUP-MAKING, 

The  cookery-books  contain  multitudes  of 
recipes  for  making  soups.  We  need  not  re- 
peat them.  In  general,  a  cook  who  has  the 
sentiment  of  his  art  will  rarely  follow  pre- 
cisely any  recipe  given  in  a  book ;  he  will 
content  himself  with  seeking  ideas  in  books 
and  carry  them  out  according  to  his  skill  and 
feeling.  Practice,  experience,  and  work  un- 
der good  masters  make  the  best  cook.  In 
Paris  the  women  cooks  often  take  lessons  in 
the  kitchens  of  the  great  clubs. 

The  life  and  soul  of  household  cookery, 
the  basis  of  a  good,  plain  dinner,  and  of  a  host 
of  stews,  s2Mces,pureeSy  etc.,  is  beef  bouillon. 

The  first  thing  to  learn  to  make  is  the  pot- 
au-feu. 

The  result  of  the  pot-au-feu  must  be  savo- 
ry, clear,  and  free  from  grease. 

The  operations  of  skimming  and  straining 
through  a  sieve  are  most  important. 


92  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

In  winter,  bouillon  may  be  kept  for  three 
days.  In  summer  it  must  be  made  fresh  ev- 
ery morning. 

Directions  for  composing  and  manipulat- 
ing the  pot-au-feu  and  various  bouillons  and 
consommes  will  be  found  in  "  The  Unrivalled 
Cook-Book"  (Harper  &  Brothers),  and  in 
Mrs.  Henderson's  "  Practical  Cooking  "  (Har- 
per Sc  Brothers).  In  the  same  works  will  be 
found  many  hints  for  preparing  soups,  to 
which  I  beg  to  add  the  following  simple 
soups,  which  are  excellent  if  made  with  good 
materials  and  cooked  with  care. 

Velvet  Soup. — Cook  some  tapioca  in  good 
stock  or  bouillon,  being  careful  not  to  make 
the  liquid  too  thick.  When  ready  place  the 
yolks  of  eggs  in  the  soup-tureen,  one  yolk  for 
two  persons.  Then  pour  over  them  the  tapio- 
ca, stirring  the  whole  so  that  it  may  become 
thoroughly  mixed  and  uniformly  creamy.  A 
grain  of  nutmeg  improves  this  soup. 

Velvet  Soup  maigre,  —  This  soup  can  be 
made  without  meat.  Cook  the  tapioca  in 
water,  with  a  little  pepper  and  salt.  Put 
into  the  tureen  a  lump  of  butter  and  the 
yolks  of  eggs — two  for  three  persons.  Then 
pour  over  them  the  boihng  tapioca.  Stir  up 
and  serve. 


PRACTICAL  SOUP-MAKING.  93 

I  recommend  to  amateurs  a  shell-fish  soup 
which  I  learned  to  make  at  Naples.  The  pres- 
ence of  garlic  in  its  composition  need  alarm 
only  the  squeamish.     Garlic  is  a  noble  flavor. 

Shell-fish  Soup. — Put  into  a  stewpan  some 
olive  oil  (half  a  tablespoonful  for  each  person) 
and  a  little  garlic  finely  chopped.    When  the 
garlic  is  well  fried  add  some  Tomato  Sauce 
No.  I  (see  Mrs.  Henderson's  "  Practical  Cook- 
ing," Harper  &  Brothers),  half  a  tablespoon- 
ful for  each  person ;  then  put  in  your  shell- 
fish—  all  sorts  of  small  shell -fish,  cockles, 
winkles,  even  mussels,  etc.,  such  as  the  mar- 
ket offers — well  washed  and  brushed  before- 
hand.    Now  add  a  spoonful  of  consomme  for 
each  person,  a  few  cloves,  and  a  little  nut- 
meg.    If  your  kitchen  boasts  no  consomme 
you  may  use  good  bouillon^  strengthened  with 
a  little  of  Liebig's  extract.     When  the  soup 
has  begun  to  tremble  and  throw  up  a  few 
bubbles  add  a  little  more  tomato ;  let  it  boil 
awhile,    and    serve    it   clear   with   cubes    of 
bread  fried  in  oil.     In  order  that  the  bread 
may  still  be  crisp  when  eaten,  the  cubes,  or 
croiHtonSy  may  be  served  apart,  and  some  put 
into  each  plate  just  before  the  soup  is  ladled 
on  them. 
Henri  Fourth's  Poule-au-Pot . — The  homely 


94  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

dish  which  Henri  IV.  wished  each  one  of  his 
subjects  to  enjoy  on  Sunday  is  not  a  soup, 
but  it  is  one  of  those  household  dishes  the 
making  of  which  gives  an  excellent  soup. 
Indeed,  the  poule-au-pot  constitutes  a  meal 
of  several  courses. 

Make  a  pot-au-feu  (see  "  Unrivalled  Cook- 
Book,"  p.  35,  Harper  &  Brothers);  only  in- 
stead of  beef  use  a  piece  of  brisket  of  mut- 
ton, with  the  usual  vegetables  and  savory 
herbs.  Take  a  young  hen  and  stuff  it  with 
the  liver  and  a  little  fresh  pork.  When  the 
pot-au-feu  boils  put  in  the  hen  and  cook  it 
tender.  Serve  the  bouillon  as  soup  ;  the  hen 
with  salt  and  tomato-sauce ;  bread  the  bris- 
ket of  mutton,  broil  it  on  the  gridiron,  and 
serve  with  piquante  sauce. 

Mile.  Frangoises  Poule-au-Pot, — Take  three 
pounds  of  beef,  a  big  hen,  two  cabbages, 
pease,  beans,  3.nd  pot-au-feu  vegetables  (see 
"  Unrivalled  Cook-Book,"  p.  35),  a  pound  of 
raw  ham,  a  Strasbourg  or  a  Viennese  saucis- 
son,  half  a  pound  of  bacon.  Put  the  beef  in 
first,  without  the  vegetables,  start  the  decoc- 
tion, skim,  and  then  put  in  the  hen.  When 
half-cooked  take  out  the  hen  and  put  in  all 
the  vegetables,  having  previously  put  the  fol- 
lowing/^rif^.  or  stuffing,  into  the  cabbages: 


PRACTICAL  SOUP-MAKING.  95 

Bread-crumbs,  six  eggs,  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  bacon,  six  chickens'  livers,  or  the 
equivalent  in  calf's  liver,  ham,  parsley,  onions, 
a  grain  of  garlic;  chop  all  this  up  very  fine, 
stuff  it  into  the  heart  of  the  cabbages,  and 
bind  the  leaves  up  with  string  before  putting 
them  into  the  pot. 

Now  take  a  stewpan  and  put  into  it  some 
bacon  cut  up  into  small  pieces,  and  then  the 
half-cooked  hen,  and  then  brown  the  whole 
with  butter.  Make  a  brown  sauce  with  but- 
ter and  flour  (see  "  Unrivalled  Cook-Book,' 
p.  395,  "  Roux  "),  enough  to  just  cover  the 
hen  in  the  stewpan ;  add  a  little  uncooked 
rice,  a  dozen  boiled  onions,  and  let  it  stew 
until  the  rice  bursts.  Serve  the  poule-au-riz 
with  the  addition  of  a  little  nutmeg  and  cay- 
enne, or  with  the  sweet  Hungarian  paprika^ 
if  you  have  any. 

The  soup  and  the  beef  of  this  poule-au- 
pot,  served  together  with  all  the  vegetables, 
constitute  the  '^Petite  Marmite''  that  has  be- 
come so  popular  in  Parisian  restaurants  of 
late  years.  In  many  restaurants  little  earth- 
en mar  mites,  containing  one  or  two  portions, 
are  served  on  the  tables,  and  in  each  marmite 
is  a  small  fragment  of  beef,  pieces  of  all  the 
vegetables,  and  a  portion  of  the  clear  bouillon. 


96  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Soup  is  really  good  only  when  it  is  eaten 
hot.  Its  warmth  is  an  essential  part  of  its 
excellence,  and  prepares  the  stomach  for  the 
important  functions  of  the  digestion  of  the 
succeeding  and  more  substantial  courses. 

The  soup-plates  should  be  hot,  and  the 
soup-tureen  should  be  heated  before  the  soup 
is  poured  into  it.  At  a  truly  scientific  table 
the  spoons  and  ladles  ought  to  be  heated. 

Now,  let  us  suppose  a  dinner  of  nine  per- 
sons. If  the  host  or  hostess  serves  the  soup, 
the  last  guest  served  will  begin  to  use  his  spoon 
when  the  first  served  has  finished,  unless,  out 
of  politeness,  all  wait  until  the  last  is  served, 
and  then  attack  all  together.  If  the  soup  is 
served  from  the  side,  and  one  or  two  servants 
pass  the  plates,  the  result  will  be  the  same. 
In  both  cases,  during  the  time  required  to 
fill  nine  plates  and  pass  them,  there  will  be 
a  loss  of  heat,  and  the  beginning  of  the  din- 
ner will  be  wanting  in  unison.  The  best  way 
is  to  serve  the  soup  in  hot  plates  immediately 
before  the  dinner  is  announced.  Then  the 
guests  enter  the  dining-room,  take  their  seats, 
and  begin  to  dine  all  at  the  same  time  and 
in  perfect  unison. 


X. 

ABOUT  SAUCES. 
I.— Household  Sauces. 

By  sauces,  let  it  be  understood  that  we  do 
not  refer  to  the  products  sold  in  drug  or 
grocery  stores,  and  corked  up  in  bottles,  but 
to  the  sauces  that  are  prepared  simulta- 
neously with  the  dishes  that  they  are  in- 
tended to  accompany  and  complete. 

We  may  divide  sauces  into  two  categories, 
household  sauces  and  the  classical  sauces, 
the  latter  belonging  to  grand  cookery.  There 
are  several  household  sauces,  which  a  person 
of  ordinary  intelligence  can  learn  to  make. 
The  first  condition  requisite  is  to  have  a 
kitchen  supplied  with  stock,  and  with  the 
usual  seasonings  and  relishing  herbs ;  the 
second  condition  is  care  and  practice  in 
making  the  liaison^  or  "thickening,"  with 
flour,  butter,  eggs,  or  cream,  in  their  various 
combinations  and  developments. 

The  household  sauces  are  drawn  butter, 
7 


98  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

sauce  blanche^  maitre  d' hotels  beutre  noity 
melted  butter,  sauce  piquajite^  sauce  poi- 
vradcy  sauce  au  vin  blanc,  sauce  poulette,  sauce 
TartarCy  green  and  white  mayonnaise^  re- 
moulade^  Hollandaise^  and  others  of  a  deriva- 
tive nature. 

Fine  Hollandaise  sauce  and  fine  sauce 
blanche  are  both  exceedingly  simple  in  their 
composition,  and  both  great  tests  of  a  cook's 
skill.  Then  why  do  we  so  rarely  find  them 
well  made?  This  problem  is  as  mysterious 
as  the  rarity  of  good  dinners  on  this  earth. 
The  two  chief  causes  of  failure,  or  medioc- 
rity, which  is  just  as  bad,  are  the  use  of  in- 
ferior materials  and  want  of  attention.  Cook- 
ery, especially  when  we  enter  the  domain  of 
sauces,  is  a  very  delicate  art,  requiring  the 
exercise  of  many  qualities  of  delicate  percep- 
tion. The  cook  who  makes  a,  perfect  sauce 
blanche  must  take  pleasure  in  his  art,  and 
perform  every  detail  of  the  operation  with 
extreme  attention,  vibrating  over  his  sauce- 
pans as  a  painter  vibrates  over  his  picture, 
delicately  sensitive  to  the  changes  of  consist- 
ency which  take  place  as  the  flour  and  butter 
become  transmuted  into  a  velvety  liquid  that 
has  to  the  eye  an  aspect  as  of  the  surface  of 
fine  porcelain,  close  in  texture,  exquisite  in 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  99 

glaze.  In  the  cook-books  you  may  read  how 
to  mix  the  materials  of  this  sauce,  but  no 
books  will  teach  you  how  to  mix  those 
materials  in  perfection. 

Once  more,  in  all  questions  concerning 
sauces,  we  cannot  insist  too  much  upon  the 
necessity  of  using  fine  materials,  and,  more 
especially,  butter  of  the  finest  and  freshest. 
Let  all  the  pans  be  scrupulously  clean,  and 
always  use  wooden  spoons  for  the  manipula- 
tion and  stirring  of  sauces.  Metal  spoons 
may  spoil  a  sauce  by  giving  it  a  chill.  Metal, 
also,  is  liable  to  be  attacked  by  the  acids 
used  in  preparing  sauces. 

In  addition  to  the  many  sauces  for  the 
preparation  of  which  directions  are  given  in 
easily  accessible  cook-books,  I  would  call  at- 
tention to  the  following,  which  are  appar- 
ently less  known  on  American  tables. 

Sauce  Bearnaise. — A  delicate  piquant  sauce 
to  be  served  with  roast  fillet  of  beef,  with 
the  small,  marinated  steaks  called  by  the 
French  tournedoSy  with  a  simple  grilled  steak 
of  small  dimensions,  with  roast  fowl  or  fish, 
is  the  sort  of  warm  mayonnaise  called  by  the 
French  Bearnaise. 

In  the  first  place,  get  some  fine  butter,  and 


100  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

set  it  to  melt  over  a  gentle  fire.  When  the 
butter  is  just  tepid,  beat  into  it,  with  a  fork, 
yolks  of  eggs;  add  aromatic  herbs,  finely- 
chopped,  a  dash  of  garlic,  and  a  spoonful  of 
good  vinegar  or  lemon-juice,  turning  regu- 
larly with  a  wooden  spoon  until  the  mixture 
is  of  the  consistency  of  a  mayonnaise. 

Mile.  Frangoise's  Bearnaise  Sauce. — Put 
in  a  stewpan  a  dozen  shalots,  a  seasoning 
bouquet,  a  little  muscade,  and  a  teaspoonful 
of  freshly  ground  pepper,  the  whole  moist- 
ened with  a  glassful  of  vinegar.  Boil  down, 
and  then  strain  through  a  sieve.  Now  take 
a  small  saucepan,  and  put  in  it  a  big  lump 
of  butter  of  the  best  quahty,  three  yolks  of 
very  fresh  eggs ;  add  two  tablespoonfuls  of 
the  liquid  already  prepared  as  above,  and 
put  the  whole  over  a  very  gentle  fire ;  turn 
it  briskly  with  a  wooden  spoon,  until  the 
sauce  gets  thick,  and  take  it  off  the  fire  very 
sharply,  before  it  turns  oily. 

Gouffe's  Bearnaise. — Take  five  yolks  of 
eggs,  one  ounce  of  butter,  a  pinch  of  salt,  a 
pinch  of  pepper.  Put  the  above  in  a  pan, 
and  turn  it  over  the  fire  with  a  spoon.  As 
soon  as  the  yolks  begin  to  set,  take  off  the 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  lOl 

fire,  and  add  another  ounce  of  butter.  Then 
stir  again  over  the  fire,  and  add  another  ounce 
of  butter.  Take  off  the  fire,  and  add  yet  an- 
other ounce.  Then  stir  again  over  the  fire. 
Now  taste  to  see  if  the  seasoning  is  sufficient, 
and  add  a  teaspoonful  of  chopped  tarragon 
and  a  teaspoonful  of  tarragon  vinegar. 

The  finest  and  purest  Bearnaise  has  a  dom- 
inant perfume  of  tarragon.  Of  the  above  three 
recipes,  the  most  correct  is  Gouff^'s,  but  the 
others  are  good  for  convenience  and  variety. 

A  green  sauce  for  use  with  all  kinds  of 
cold  fish  and  meat. — Take  a  handful  of  cher- 
vil, tarragon,  chives,  pimpernel,  and  garden 
cress ;  wash  in  cold  water ;  blanch  by  put- 
ting the  herbs  in  hot  water  for  a  while,  to  de- 
prive them  of  rankness  or  bitterness  of  taste  ; 
refresh  them  by  plunging  them  in  cold  wa- 
ter. Now  add  four  yolks  of  hard-boiled  eggs 
and  two  anchovies,  and  pound  the  whole  well 
in  a  mortar.  Strain  the  result  through  a  fine 
wire  sieve,  and  turn  the  compound  with  ol- 
ive oil,  adding  from  time  to  time  drops  of 
lemon-juice,  as  in  making  a  mayonnaise.  Turn 
the  sauce  always  in  the  same  direction.  Sea- 
son with  pepper,  salt,  even  a  little  mustard, 
and  a  teaspoonful  of  anisette. 


I02  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

The  above  is  a  first-rate  and  delicate  sauce, 
and  requires  none  of  the  complicated  bases 
employed  by  the  grand  cooks. 

Maitre  d' Hotel.— TskQ  butter  of  the  size 
of  an  egg ;  chop  parsley,  chives,  and  even  a 
sprig  of  tarragon,  very  finely;  add  freshly 
ground  pepper  and  salt ;  knead  the  whole 
well  together,  and  spread  it  over  the  broiled 
meat  or  fish  the  moment  before  serving  on  a 
hot  dish. 

N.B. — Never  put  your  dish  into  an  oven 
"  to  allow  the  butter  to  penetrate  the  meat," 
as  some  recommend.  As  soon  as  the  meat 
is  off  the  gridiron  it  wants  to  get  to  table 
with  the  least  possible  delay. 

In  hot  weather  a  few  drops  of  lemon-juice 
may  be  added  to  the  maitre  d'hotely  and  even 
a  tinge  of  nutmeg. 

Chateaubriand h  la  Maitre  d^ Hotel. — As  an 
instance  of  the  use  of  maitre  d' hotel  sauce, 
here  is  the  way  to  serve  a  Chateaubriand  : 

The  Chdteaubriand  is  a  beefsteak,  a  piece 
of  fillet  one  and  a  half  and  even  two  inches 
thick,  grilled  and  served  with  souffli  pota- 
toes and  maitre  d'hdtel  sauce;  that  is  to 
say,  you  put  on  the  dish  in  which  you  intend 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  103 

to  serve  your  Chdteaubriand  a  good  lump  of 
sweet  butter  kneaded  with  some  very  finely 
chopped  parsley,  salt,  pepper,  a  speck  of  nut- 
meg, a  suspicion  of  chives,  and  a  drop  or  two 
of  lemon-juice ;  melt  the  whole  by  warming 
the  dish,  mix,  and  then  set  your  Chdteaubri- 
and in  the  middle  of  the  dish,  all  hot  from 
the  gridiron ;  heap  round  it  the  souffle  pota- 
toes, using  your  fingers,  and  send  up  to  table 
as  quickly  as  possible. 

A  really  triumphant  Chdteaubriand  is  two 
inches  thick  after  it  is  cooked,  and  it  is  cooked 
rose  right  through  ;  the  outside  is  neither 
burned  nor  dry ;  and  when  you  cut  it  with 
the  knife  the  red  juice  flows  out  and  mixes 
with'the  maitre  d'hStel^  and  makes  it,  as  it 
were,  something  living  and  animated. 

The  inventor  and  baptizer  of  the  Chdteau- 
briand^ I  have  been  told,  was  Magny,  and  the 
name  was  given  to  it  by  mistake,  for,  accord- 
ing to  Magny,  it  was  christened,  not  after 
Chateaubriand,  the  author  of  the  "  G^nie  du 
Christianisme,"  but  after  a  M.  de  Chabrillan, 
who  is  not  otherwise  famous. 

II. — The  Classical  Sauces. 

The  classical  sauces  are  the  innumerable 
derivatives  of  the  primary  sauces  known  as 


104  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

grande,  Espagnole,  Allemmtde,  veloute,  various 
essences,  and  various  fumets,  or  flavors.  All 
these  primary  sauces,  or  sauces  mires,  are  sub- 
limated decoctions  or  quintessences  of  the 
most  savory  and  succulent  meats,  whether 
of  quadrupeds,  fowl,  or  fish.  In  a  modest 
household  it  is  impossible  to  make  them  ; 
they  require  professional  skill,  expensive 
materials,  and  extensive  apparatus.  People 
who  have  princely  establishments  may  pre- 
pare the  finest  sauces  in  their  own  kitch- 
ens, but  the  vast  majority  of  mankind  must 
depend  upon  the  first-class  restaurateurs  for 
their  preparation. 

The  great  authority  Dubois  -  Bernard, 
speaking  of  this  branch  of  his  art,  says : 
"  Sauces,  by  the  care  and  labor  they  require, 
by  the  costly  sacrifices  which  they  necessa- 
rily involve,  ought  to  be  considered  as  the 
essential  basis  of  good  cookery.  The  gour- 
met would  not  think  much  of  an  elegant  and 
sumptuously  served  dinner  of  which  the 
gauces  are  wanting  in  that  fineness  of  taste, 
that  succulency,  and  that  purity  which  are 
indispensable. 

"  A  man  is  never  a  great  cook  if  he  does 
not  possess  a  perfect  knowledge  of  sauces, 
and  if  he  has  not  made  a  special  study  of  the 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  I05 

methodical  principles  on  which  their  perfec- 
tion depends. 

"  Two  causes  contribute  to  the  imperfec- 
tion of  sauces — defective  knowledge  or  de- 
fective materials.  An  incompetent  man,  dis- 
posing of  the  finest  resources,  only  obtains  a 
mediocre  and  doubtful  result ;  but  a  clever 
practitioner,  if  he  has  not  the  necessary  ma- 
terials, or  if  those  materials  are  insufificient 
or  of  bad  quality,  does  not  attain  the  desired 
end.  Experience,  practice,  knowledge,  be- 
come powerless  in  such  circumstances;  the 
cleverest  cook  can  correct  and  attenuate,  but 
he  cannot  struggle  against  the  impossible, 
nor  make  prodigies  out  of  nothing. 

"  Consequently,  in  order  to  make  perfect 
sauces,  the  cook  must  not  only  know  how  to 
go  to  work,  but  he  must  know  how  to  make 
the  sacrifices  that  are  required.  These  con- 
siderations, which  we  cannot  too  strongly  im- 
press both  upon  amphitryons  and  upon  cooks, 
have  already  struck  more  than  one  observer. 
True  gourmets  are  not  accustomed  to  make 
parsimonious  calculations  ;  they  know  that 
good  cooking  is  incompatible  with  insuffi- 
cient means." 

We  must,  therefore,  conclude  that  the  fin- 
est sauces  are  inaccessible  to  modest  purses, 


Io6  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

because  the  cost  of  establishing  the  primary- 
bases  is  too  great  to  be  undertaken  in  modest 
households.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the 
grands  bouillons  of  flesh,  fish,  and  fowl.  The 
production  of  these  quintessences  can  only 
be  successfully  achieved  by  sacrificing  large 
quantities  of  primary  and  often  costly  mate- 
rial. 

The  fine  sauces  referred  to  are  the  out- 
come of  the  high  French  cookery,  the  so- 
called  cuisine  classique  of  the  first  quarter  of 
this  century,  a  cuisine  which  could  only  op- 
erate with  a  profusion  of  ingredients.  The 
secret  of  this  cuisine  consisted  in  quintessenc- 
ing  the  taste,  whether  of  meat,  fish,  or  fowl, 
by  means  of  similar  comestibles  sacrificed  for 
purposes  of  decoction  or  distillation,  and  the 
perfumes  and  flavors  obtained  by  this  process 
were  added  as  condiments  to  the  piece  of 
meat,  fish,  or  fowl  served  on  the  table.  Fish, 
flesh,  or  fowl,  heightened  by  the  addition  of 
its  savory  quintessence,  such  is  the  theory  of 
the  grand,  or,  as  we  may  call  them,  the  clas- 
sical, sauces. 

The  era  of  fine  cookery  began  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.,  when  Vatel  lived,  and  left  a 
name  as  famous  as  that  of  Boileau,  and  when 
the  grand  seigneurs  immortalized  themselves 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  10/ 

by  combining  delicate  dishes.  Such  was  the 
Marquis  de  Bechamel,  who  has  given  his 
name  to  a  fundamental  sauce ;  such  the  re- 
gent who  invented  pain  h  la  d' Orleans ; 
such  the  Marshal  de  Richelieu,  who  invented 
mahonnaises,  or  mayonnaises,  and  attached  his 
name  to  a  score  of  noble  recipes ;  such  the 
smiling  and  imaginative  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour, who  created  the  filets  de  volaille  ct  la 
Bellevue,  the  palais  de  bceuf  h  la  Pompadour, 
and  the  tendons  d'agneau  au  soleil ;  such  were 
the  grand  ladies  who  invented  quails  a  la 
Mirepoix,  Chartreuses  a  la  Mauconseil,  poulets 
a  la  Villeroy.  The  name  of  Montmorency 
has  received  additional  lustre  from  a  dish  of 
fat  pullets.  The  dukes  of  La  Valli^re  and 
Duras,  the  Prince  de  Guemen^e,  the  Marquis 
de  Brancas,  even  the  princes  of  the  royal 
family,  the  Comte  d'Artois  and  the  Prince 
de  Conde,  did  their  best  to  cherish  the  sacred 
fire  of  culinary  art ;  and  whatever  satirical 
writers  may  have  found  to  say  against  the 
financiers  and  farmers  general,  none  of  them, 
whether  hungry  or  gorged,  dared  to  write  a 
single  word  against  the  cooks  and  the  tables 
of  these  heroes  of  incommensurable  appetite. 
However,  the  idea  of  quintessential  cook- 
ery, be  it  remembered,  is  due  primarily  to 


I08  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  cooks  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  who  provided  for  the  deHcately  vo- 
luptuous stomachs  of  the  grand  seigneurs  of 
the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  dishes  of  a  subli- 
mated chemistry,  or,  as  a  writer  of  the  time 
says,  dishes  which  consisted  only  of  "quint- 
essences raisonn^es,  d^gag^es  de  toute  terre- 
streitSy 

This  ethereal  cookery,  these  fine  suppers 
whose  menus  suggest  the  repasts  of  the 
princes  in  the  "Arabian  Nights,"  lasted  even 
during  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution, 
when  the  cooks  of  the  ruined  nobles,  nota- 
bly M^ot,  Robert,  Roze,  V^ry,  Leda,  Le- 
gacque,  Beauvilliers,  Naudet,  Edon,  became 
restaurateurs  and  sellers  of  good  cheer  to 
all  who  could  pay  the  price.  Beauvilliers, 
who  established  his  restaurant  about  1782, 
was  for  fifteen  years  the  most  famous  restau- 
rateur of  Paris,  and  provided  literally  such 
delicate  and  sublimated  dishes  as  those  which 
had  hitherto  been  found  only  on  the  tables  of 
the  king,  of  the  nobles,  and  of  the  farmers- 
general.  The  great  restaurateurs  of  modern 
Paris  are  nearly  all  direct  successors  of  one 
or  other  of  the  famous  cooks  above  men- 
tioned. And  it  is  only  in  such  establish- 
ments, much  as  they  have  degenerated,  or 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  IO9 

at  the  tables  of  the  Croesuses  of  the  world, 
that  one  can  hope  to  taste  in  almost  satis- 
factory conditions  the  finest  products  of  the 
cook's  art. 

Duck  h  la  Portugaise. — This  recipe  is  due 
to  the  eminent  poet,  critic,  historian,  and 
journalist,  Charles  Monselet,  who  is  the  au- 
thor of  divers  succulent  volumes  on  the  gas- 
tronomic art,  and  of  a  famous  sonnet  on  that 
encyclopaedic  animal,  the  pig. 

The  present  dish  is  worthy  of  attention  on 
account  of  the  simplicity  of  the  elements  of 
which  it  is  composed  and  of  the  short  time 
needed  to  prepare  it.  Take  either  a  wild 
duck  or  an  ordinary  duck ;  if  the  latter,  wring 
its  neck  smartly,  so  that  there  may  be  as  lit- 
tle blood  lost  as  possible ;  dip  it  in  hot  wa- 
ter, so  that  you  may  feather  it  the  more 
easily;  then  draw  and  clean  it.  Take  the 
heart,  the  liver,  and  the  gizzard,  and  chop 
them  up  fine  with  three  shalots ;  pepper 
and  salt  liberally;  add  a  lump  of  fresh 
butter;  knead  the  whole  well  with  a  fork 
and  stuff  it  into  the  carcase.  Cut  the 
duck's  neck,  reserving  a  piece  of  skin  to 
sew  up  the  aperture;  pack  in  the  pope's 
nose,  and   sew   up   likewise;    then  roll   the 


no  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

duck  in  a  cloth  and  tie  it  round  and  round 
with  a  string;  then  plunge  it  into  boiling 
salt  water,  and  cook  thirty-five  minutes,  or 
thirty  minutes  for  a  wild  duck.  Remove 
the  cloth,  and  serve  on  a  hot  dish  garnished 
with  slices  of  lemon. 

■  Lamb  or  Mutton  Cutlets  breaded  with 
Cheese.  —  Trim  your  cutlets  neatly,  remove 
superfluous  fat,  and  make  them  dainty  in 
shape.  Dip  each  cutlet  in  melted  butter,  and 
then  roll  it  in  bread-crumbs  and  very  finely 
grated  Parmesan  cheese,  the  crumbs  and  the 
cheese  being  in  equal  parts.  Cook  over  a 
clear  fire,  and  see  that  the  cutlets  do  not  get 
burned  or  blackened. 

"  The  gourmet  is  not  a  voracious  eater ; 
he  chews  his  food  more  than  another  because 
this  function  is  a  true  pleasure  to  him,  and 
because  a  long  stay  of  the  aliments  in  the 
palate  is  the  first  principle  of  happiness." — 
Grimod  de  la  Reyni^re. 

The  real  gourmet  eats  by  candle-light  be- 
cause, as  Roqueplan  said,  "  nothing  is  more 
ugly  than  a  sauce  seen  in  sunlight."  For 
this   and    other  reasons   the   true  gourmet 


ABOUT  SAUCES.  Ill 

avoids   breakfast-parties,  lunches,  high-teas, 
pic-nics,  and  analogous  solecisms. 

In  these  days  of  progress,  science,  gas- 
stoves,  sophistication,  and  democracy,  the 
gourmet's  dream  is  to  taste  real  meat  cooked 
with  real  fire,  and  to  drink  wine  made  with 
real  grapes. 


XI. 

MENUS.— HORS  HCEUVRES.  — EN- 
TREES. 

However  modest  the  dinner  and  how- 
ever few  the  guests,  it  is  always  desirable  to 
have  a  menu  giving  the  detail  of  the  repast. 
Let  there  be  at  least  one  menu  for  every  two 
guests,  so  that  all  may  know  what  joy  or  dis- 
appointment is  held  in  store  for  them,  and  so 
that  each  one  may  reserve  or  indulge  his  ap- 
petite as  his  tastes  and  his  digestive  interests 
may  dictate.  Nothing  is  more  irritating  at 
table  than  a  surprise  of  a  too  material  nature. 
For  instance,  it  is  unpleasant  to  find  that  you 
have  devoted  to  a  simple  fillet  of  beef  the  at- 
tention which  you  would  have  preferred  to 
reserve  for  quails,  had  you  known  that 
quails  were  in  prospect.  The  presentation 
of  the  menu  is  a  pretext  for  a  variety  of  ta- 
ble bibelots,  porte-menus  of  ornamental  sil- 
ver or  of  porcelain,  engraved  cards,  or  cards 
decorated  with  etchings  or  water-colors.    The 


HORS  DCEUVRES.  II3 

designing  of  menu  cards  decorated  with  etch- 
ings and  water-colors  has  been  made  a  spec- 
ialty by  several  Parisian  artists  of  talent,  like 
Henri  Boulet,  Mesples,  Gray,  and  Henri  Gue- 
rard. 

Never  forget  that  a  menu  is  not  merely  a 
total  of  dishes.  In  an  eating-house  there 
will  be  found  a  list  of  dishes  which  the  An- 
glo-Saxon brutally  calls  the  "bill  of  fare." 
In  a  restaurant  like  the  Caf^  Anglais  there  is 
a  "  carte  "  which  forms  a  thick  volume,  and 
contains  the  enumeration  of  all  the  dishes 
that  a  cook  can  make ;  there  is  also  a  "  carte 
du  jour,"  which  is  the  menu  of  the  restau- 
rant, the  dinner  of  the  day,  with  its  noble 
order  of  potage^  hors  d'oeuvres,  releves,  en- 
trees^ roasts,  entremets^  etc. 

The  theory  of  a  menu  and  of  the  composi- 
tion of  a  dinner  is  simplicity  itself ;  in  gener- 
al terms,  it  begins  with  an  excitant,  namely, 
soup,  satisfies  hunger  gradually  by  fish,  sav- 
ory dishes,  and  roasts,  with  which  latter  a 
salad  comes  in  to  excite  the  digestion  once 
more,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a  vegetable, 
which  will  be  followed  by  the  dessert.  In 
composing  your  menu  you  must  consult  first 
of  all  the  market,  and,  secondly,  the  number 
of  guests  to  be  served ;  and,  in  selecting  the 
8 


114  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

dishes,  the  chief  things  to  avoid  are  such 
gross  errors  as  the  repetition  of  the  same 
meats  and  the  same  sauces,  or  sauces  of  the 
same  nature.  If  you  serve  a  turbot  sauce 
Hollandaise  you  must  not  serve  after  it  a 
poulet  sauce  suprime,  or  even  a  blanquette  de 
veau. 

The  use  of  French  words  in  a  menu  is 
not  indispensable.  The  deHcate  eater  is  not 
bound  to  know  French. 

Hors  d'ceuvres  are  either  cold,  or,  in  pro- 
fessional language,  hors  d'ceuvres  d' office,  or 
warm,  that  is  to  say,  hors  d'ceuvres  de  cui- 
sine. Formerly  warm  hors  d'ceuvres  —  al- 
ways without  sauces  —  were  served  side  by 
side  with  the  entrees,  only  on  smaller  dishes. 
Nowadays  many  warm  hors  d'oeuvres  are 
reckoned  as  entrees  or  light  entremets,  and 
passed  round  rapidly,  so  that  they  may  lose 
none  of  their  delicacy  by  standing  on  the 
table. 

At  dinner  cold  hors  d'oeuvres  offer  but  lit- 
tle interest  to  the  gourmet,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  canteloupe  melon  and  the  water- 
melon, but  especially  the  canteloupe,  when 
just  ripe,  and  with  the  aroma  fully  developed. 
Cut  the  melon  immediately  before  serving, 


HORS  D'CEUVRES.  II5 

SO  that  none  of  the  perfume  may  evaporate ; 
and  let  there  be  powdered  sugar  within  the 
reach  of  those  who  wish  it,  and  white  pep- 
per for  the  more  refined  palates.  The  can- 
teloupe,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  eaten  be- 
fore the  soup,  while  the  palate  is  absolutely 
fresh. 

As  for  rosy  radishes,  olives,  anchovies,  sar- 
dines, saucissofty  marinated  tunny,  herrings, 
or  oysters,  young  artichokes  a  la  poivrade^ 
tongue,  sprats,  cucumbers,  gherkins,  pickled 
walnuts,  etc.,  what  place  can  such  insignifi- 
cant trifles  claim  in  the  menu  of  a  serious 
dinner?  At  midday  breakfast  it  may  be 
amusing  and  appetizing  to  nibble  at  these 
toy  dishes,  but,  except  at  the  family  table, 
it  is  preferable  to  banish  cold  hors  d'ceuvres 
from  the  dinner  menu. 

An  exquisite  cold  hors  d'ceuvre  are  fresh 
figs,  served  at  the  beginning  of  the  repast. 
In  Southern  Europe  you  get  this  hors  d'oeu- 
vre  in  perfection.  Anywhere  around  the  Bay 
of  Naples  a  dish  of  figs,  a  slice  of  smoked 
ham,  and  a  flask  of  red  wine  make  a  delicious 
morning  meal. 

Warm  hors  d'ceuvres,  properly  speaking, 
consist  of  small,  dainty  dishes,  without  sauces, 
such  as  little  pasties^  croustadeSy  croquetteSy 


Il6  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

boucheeSj  cromesquis,  timbales,  orly,  or  fillets 
of  fish,  coquilles  of  fish  or  fowl,  rissoles,  souf- 
fles, and  deHcacies  served  en  caisses.  The 
preparation  of  many  warm  hors  d'ceuvres 
requires  the  resources  of  a  first-rate  kitchen 
and  a  professional  cook ;  for,  although  they 
are  without  sauce,  nevertheless  they  require 
to  be  artistically  presented.  The  warm  hors 
d'oeuvres  are  served  after  the  soup  or  after 
the  fish  ;  they  ought  to  be  pretty  to  look  at, 
and  to  furnish  two  or  three  delicate  mouth- 
fuls.  Several  such  hors  d^ceuvres  may  be 
served  on  the  same  dish,  which  makes  at 
once  a  handsome  arrangement  to  the  eye 
and  offers  greater  choice  to  the  guests,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  simplifies  the  service. 

For  household  cooking,  however,  the  less 
said  about  warm  hors  d'ceuvres  the  better, 
for  few  private  kitchens  and  few  family  cooks 
are  equal  to  the  task  of  preparing  and  serving 
these  small  dishes  as  they  should  be  served. 
It  is  true  you  may  get  many  of  them  from 
the  neighboring  pastry-cook's,  but  the  gour- 
met distrusts  dishes  provided  by  pastry-cooks 
and  caterers.  Exception  must,  of  course,  be 
made  for  certain  artists  who  have  achieved 
fame  for  special  things.  In  Paris,  for  in- 
stance, one  of  Bontoux's  timbales  is  a  dish 


ENTREES.  117 

which  it  is  a  privilege  to  taste,  and  which  no 
private  or  professional  cook  can  surpass.  But, 
as  a  rule,  it  is  well  to  avoid  getting  dishes 
from  outside,  and  therefore  I  advise  the  am- 
phitryon  to  dispense  as  much  as  possible  with 
warm  hors  d'oeuvres.  Let  them  be  reserved 
for  parade  dinners,  where  there  is  necessarily 
more  show  than  there  is  delicate  eating. 

In  the  highest  kind  of  cookery  we  distin- 
guish two  kinds  of  warm  entrees ;  simple  en- 
trees^ which  owe  their  value  to  the  rareness  or 
fineness  of  the  component  elements  whose 
original  character  must  be  carefully  preserved, 
and  in  no  manner  disguised  by  the  processes 
of  dressing ;  and  entries  travailleeSy  which  are 
often  less  remarkable  than  the  former,  so  far 
as  concerns  their  component  elements,  but 
more  elegant  and  decorative  in  aspect  and 
more  varied  in  composition.  In  the  mount- 
ing of  entrees  the  cook  likes  to  show  his  taste 
in  ornamentation,  and  often  he  goes  beyond 
the  mark,  and  awakens  the  distrust  of  the 
gourmet  by  the  excess  of  his  arabesques  and 
combinations  of  line  and  color. 

The  more  refined  the  gourmet  is,  and  the 
more  closely  acquainted  he  is  with  the  secrets 
of  the  culinary  art,  the  stronger  his  prefer- 
ence for  simple  dishes,  and  certainly  for  sim- 


Il8  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

pie  entrees  as  compared  with  the  entrees  tra- 
vaillees. 

With  the  warm  entrees  the  real  artistic 
interest  of  a  fine  dinner  begins,  for  it  is  with 
the  entrees  that  the  fine  sauces  are  served. 
Here  it  is  useless  to  disguise  the  simple  truth  ; 
household  cookery  cannot  undertake  the  mak- 
ing of  the  finest  sauces,  and  therefore  none 
but  the  simplest  entrees  can  figure  on  the 
menu  of  a  private  individual  who  has  not  a 
first-rate  kitchen  and  a  skilled  professional 
cook.  Entrees  may  be  cooked  to  a  turn, 
tastefully  mounted,  and  served  piping  hot, 
but,  unless  the  accompanying  sauce  is  per- 
fection, these  are  only  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 
Let  amphitryons  and  cooks  alike  meditate 
the  words  of  the  wise. 

*'The  science  of  sauces,**  says  Dubois, 
"does  not  belong  to  everybody  and  any- 
body, for  it  can  only  be  acquired  in  the 
grand  school  of  practice.  We  cannot,  there- 
fore, too  strongly  recommend  cooks  to  study 
profoundly  this  part  of  the  art. . . .  Warm  en- 
triesy  by  their  very  nature,  are  varied ;  their 
number  is  infinite ;  but  the  number  of  those 
which  are  suitable  for  a  grand  dinner  is  not 
so  unlimited  that  they  can  be  chosen  at  haz- 
ard.    In  a  luxurious,  rich,  and  elegant  din- 


ENTRIES.  119 

ner  there  ought  to  be  served  none  but  choice 
entrees^  carefully  prepared,  ornamented,  gar- 
nished, representing  at  once,  in  their  ensem- 
ble, wealth,  skill,  and  competent  attention. 
But,  in  order  to  achieve  this  difficult  result, 
the  cook  must  operate  in  conditions  where 
abundance  a?id  resources  are  unlimited^'' 


XII. 

ON PARATRIPTICS  AND  THE  MAKING 
OF  TEA  AND  COFFEE. 

Tea,  coffee,  and  tobacco  come  under  the 
heading  to  which  scientific  men  have  given 
the  name  of  Paratriptics.  The  demand  for 
them  is  based  upon  their  power  to  prevent 
waste  in  the  body,  so  that  by  their  help  and 
stimulus  men  can  do  more  work  and  endure 
more  privation  with  a  smaller  amount  of  act- 
ual food.  Tea,  coffee,  and  tobacco  are  not 
food,  although  temporarily  and  continuously 
they  supplement  it.  The  physiologist  Mole- 
schott  calls  them  the  **  savings  banks"  of  the 
tissues. 

As  in  the  case  of  most  articles  of  food, 
very  little  thought  has  been  devoted  to  the 
preparation  of  tea  and  coffee  for  the  table. 
In  a  great  country  like  England  it  is  impos- 
sible to  obtain  really  well-made  coffee  except 
in  a  few  private  houses,  while  English  tea  is 
generally  a  rank  and  astringent  decoction  in- 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  121 

stead  of  a  delicate  infusion.  The  traditions 
of  the  preparation  of  these  beverages  have 
become  corrupted. 

When  both  tea  and  coffee  were  compara- 
tively newly  introduced  into  Europe,  the 
methods  of  preparing  them  were  simple  and 
logical.  In  his  rare  volume,  "  La  Maison 
Reglee  et  TArt  de  Diriger  la  Maison  d'un 
Grand  Seigneur  et  Autres,  etc.  Avec  la 
veritable  methode  de  faire  toutes  sortes 
d'essences  d'eaux  et  de  liqueurs  fortes  et 
rafraichissements  a  la  mode  d'ltalie  "  (Paris, 
1692),  the  author,  Audiger,  who  was  the  first 
limonidier-glacier  that  Paris  boasted,  records 
two  recipes  for  making  tea  and  coffee  which 
he  learned  in  Italy  in  1659. 

"  Take  a  pint  of  water  and  make  it  boil ; 
then  put  in  it  two  pinches  of  tea,  and  imme- 
diately remove  it  from  the  fire,  for  the  tea 
must  not  boil ;  you  let  it  rest  and  infuse  time 
enough  to  say  two  or  three  paters  (^^  Tespace 
de  deux  ou  trois  pater'')^  and  then  serve  it  with 
powdered  sugar  on  a  porcelain  dish,  so  that 
each  one  may  sugar  to  his  taste." 

"  Tea,"  adds  Audiger,  "  comes  from  the 
kingdom  of  Siam,  and  is  prepared  as  above ; 
its  properties  are  to  settle  the  fumes  of  the 
brain  and  to  refresh  and  purify  the  blood. 


122  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

It  is  generally  taken  in  the  morning,  to  wake 
up  the  spirits  and  give  appetite,  and  after 
meals  to  help  digestion." 

Audiger  prepares  his  coffee  by  first  of  all 
pounding  the  freshly  roasted  berries  in  a  mor- 
tar or  grinding  them  in  a  mill.  Then  he 
boils  a  pint  of  water  in  a  coffee-pot,  takes 
the  pot  off  the  fire  when  the  water  boils,  puts 
in  it  two  spoonfuls  of  coffee,  stirs,  and  boils 
it  up  to  foaming,  withdrawing  it  from  the  fire 
each  time  the  moment  the  foam  rises.  This 
operation  of  foaming  he  repeats  gently  ten 
or  twelve  times,  and  then  precipitates  the 
grounds,  and  clarifies  the  coffee  by  pouring 
into  it  a  glass  of  cold  water. 

"  Coffee,"  remarks  this  excellent  authority, 
**  is  a  grain  that  comes  from  Persia  and  the 
other  countries  of  the  Levant,  where  it  is  the 
natural  and  most  common  drink.  When  pre- 
pared as  we  have  described,  its  qualities  are 
that  it  refreshes  the  blood,  dissipates  the  va- 
pors and  fumes  of  wine,  aids  digestion,  en- 
livens the  spirits,  and  prevents  sleepiness  in 
those  who  have  much  business." 

These  recipes  are  founded  upon  true  prin- 
ciples. Chemical  analysis  shows  that  tea  con- 
tains poisonous  elements,  whereas  coffee  is 
innocuous,  and  the  whole  of  the  berry  good 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  1 23 

to  eat.  In  preparing  tea  we  must  beware  of 
setting  free  the  poisonous  elements  which 
the  leaves  contain,  and  that  is  the  reason 
why  a  decoction  of  tea  is  deleterious.  In 
coffee,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  whole 
is  eatable,  a  decoction  is  admissible,  and  even 
desirable ;  for  instance,  in  coffee  a  la  Turque, 
in  which  the  liquid  is  not  clarified,  but  served 
with  the  grounds  and  all. 

The  proper  and  only  truly  hygienic  man- 
ner of  making  tea  is  to  infuse  the  leaves  in 
boiling  water,  either  by  pouring  the  water 
over  the  leaves  or  by  throwing  the  leaves 
into  the  boiling  water.  The  time  necessary 
for  the  infusion  depends  on  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  the  tea  used  and  on  the  taste  of 
the  drinker.  Some  persons  advocate  pour- 
ing a  small  quantity  of  boiling  water  over 
the  leaves  at  first,  and  a  moment  afterwards 
putting  in  the  remaining  amount  desired. 
This  method  may  be  advantageous  when  a 
large  quantity  of  tea  is  to  be  made ;  but  for 
two  or  three  cups  I  do  not  believe  that  it  en- 
hances the  quality  of  the  beverage. 

The  points  to  be  insisted  upon  are  that 
the  tea  should  be  freshly  made,  and  not  left 
to  "  brew  "  for  an  indefinite  period. 

The  teapot  must  be  hot  when  the  boiling 


124"  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

water  is  poured  in,  otherwise  the  temperature 
of  the  boiling  water  would  experience  a  sud- 
den change,  and  the  infusion  would  taste  flat. 

Tea  should  be  prepared  daintily,  in  small 
quantities,  and  drank  immediately.  If  it  be 
needful  to  prepare  tea  in  large  quantities, 
the  infusion  should  be  decanted  in  a  warmed 
earthen  teapot  as  soon  as  it  has  acquired  the 
appropriate  strength. 

The  object  of  decanting  the  infusion  is  to 
prevent  the  liquid  from  becoming  impreg- 
nated with  tannic  acid  and  other  acrid  and 
noxious  principles  which  the  tea-leaves  con- 
tain. 

Tea,  as  it  is  usually  made  in  England  and 
in  America,  where  the  process  of  infusion  is 
allowed  to  continue  indefinitely  until  the 
teapot  is  emptied,  is  a  rank  decoction  of 
tea-leaves  which  can  only  be  drank  after  it 
has  been  softened  by  the  addition  of  milk  or 
cream  and  sugar. 

The  infusion  of  tea  made  as  Audiger  di- 
rects is  a  suave  drink,  soft  to  the  palate,  and 
tasting  only  of  the  delicate  aroma  of  the  tea- 
leaves.  The  time  required  for  the  infusion 
can  only  be  determined  by  experience  and 
individual  taste.  The  equivalent  in  modern 
parlance  of  Audiger's  "two  or  three  pater- 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  12$ 

nosters  "  would  be  five  to  ten  minutes.  Re- 
member that  the  longer  the  tea  is  infused  the 
more  acrid  it  becomes,  because  the  leaves  give 
forth  more  and  more  tannic  acid. 

For  tea-making  and  for  all  delicate  cooking 
operations  the  water  should  be  caught  at  the 
first  boil.  Nickel  or  silver  pots  are  unobjec- 
tionable, provided  they  be  kept  scrupulously 
clean  ;  but  ordinary  earthen  or  porcelain  pots 
are  preferable  on  all  accounts. 

Tea  made  as  above  described  will  be  drank 
with  or  without  loaf-sugar  sweetening,  and 
needs  no  softening  and  spoiling  with  milk  or 
cream. 

The  custom  of  adding  cream  or  milk  to  tea 
and  coffee  doubtless  originated  in  ignorance 
or  bad  brewing.  The  coffee-drinking  nations 
and  the  tea-drinkers  of  the  East  do  not  know 
this  custom.  The  Russians  put  in  their  tea 
a  sHce  of  lemon. 

If  the  tea  or  coffee  be  good,  the  addition 
of  milk  spoils  the  taste.  Furthermore,  the 
tannic  acid  which  is  contained  both  in  tea 
and  in  coffee  changes  the  nature  of  the  albu- 
minous part  of  milk,  and,  so  to  speak,  tans 
the  globules  of  the  milk,  and  renders  them  in- 
digestible. Coffee  and  milk  and  tea  and  milk 
are  difficult  to  digest.     Pure  cream  is  less  ob- 


126  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

jectionable,  because  pure  cream  is  really  but- 
ter or  grease,  and  contains  very  little  of  the 
albuminous  part  of  milk. 

Tea  and  cofTee  both  excite  the  nerves. 
Coffee  acts  more  on  the  nerve-centre  or  brain ; 
tea  excites  the  peripteral  nerves.  Coffee, 
therefore,  produces  brain  excitement,  while 
tea  provokes  rather  muscular  excitement. 

There  are  many  ways  of  making  coffee  to 
suit  the  tastes  of  various  nations.  The  Eng- 
lish like  a  mixture  of  chicory  and  coffee,  and 
also  brew  a  horrible  black  liquid  with  artifi- 
cial essence  of  coffee.  In  America  some  beat 
up  an  egg  in  the  coffee  to  make  it  thick  and 
rich.  Various  systems  of  filters  and  distillers 
have  also  been  invented.  But,  after  all,  the 
simplest  methods  are  the  best.  In  order  to 
make  fine  black  coffee,  you  need  first  of  all 
excellent  berries,  or  a  mixture  of  berries  of 
different  plantations.  These  berries  ought 
to  be  freshly  roasted  and  freshly  ground,  and 
put  into  the  filter  with  all  their  aroma.  The 
best  filter  is  of  earthenware,  in  two  pieces,  a 
pot  with  a  spout  surmounted  by  a  perforated 
filter,  in  which  the  ground  coffee  is  placed, 
and  into  which  the  boiling  water  is  poured. 
Care  should  be  taken  not  to  have  the  coffee- 
berries  too  finely  ground  ;  otherwise  the  filter 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  12/ 

will  become  obstructed,  and  the  coffee  get 
cold  by  the  time  it  is  ready  to  drink.  In  or- 
der to  preserve  all  the  aroma,  it  is  better  to 
grind  the  coffee  and  put  it  into  the  filter 
when  the  water  has  reached  a  boiling-point. 
Then  begin  by  pouring  the  water  into  the 
filter  slowly,  and  only  a  little  quantity  at  a 
time.  Do  not  make  the  fatal  mistake  of  fill- 
ing up  the  filter  and  waiting  until  the  water 
has  passed  through  before  you  add  any  more ; 
in  this  case  you  will  have  not  only  cold  cof- 
fee, but  poor  coffee.  As  soon  as  you  have 
poured  the  first  small  quantity  into  the  filter, 
replace  the  water  over  the  fire,  and  always 
have  it  at  boiling-point  when  you  pour  it 
into  the  filter ;  thus,  by  gradually  pouring  a 
very  small  amount  of  boiling  water  at  a  time, 
it  will  pass  through  the  ground  coffee  just 
quickly  enough  to  extract  all  the  strength 
and  preserve  all  its  heat.  There  are  persons 
who  first  filter  the  coffee-grounds  left  over 
from  the  previous  meal,  and  then  pass  this 
liquid,  after  bringing  it  to  a  boiling-point, 
over  the  freshly  ground  berries ;  but  this 
method  is  not  to  be  recommended,  as  it  pro- 
duces a  strong,  muddy  mixture,  without  aro- 
ma. If  you  are  a  lover  of  very  strong  cof- 
fee, the  best  way  to  obtain  it  is  to  increase 


128  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  amount  of  ground  berries  in  the  filter. 
For  making  moderately  strong  black  coffee, 
a  tablespoonful  of  ground  coffee  per  cup  is 
sufficient. 

The  only  other  way  of  making  coffee  wor- 
thy of  our  notice  is  that  employed  by  the 
Turks.  Byron's  friend  Trelawney  has  de- 
scribed the  process  in  his  "Adventures  of  a 
Younger  Son,"  where  he  says  that  good  Mus- 
sulmans can  alone  make  good  coffee  ;  for,  be- 
ing interdicted  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits, 
their  palate  is  more  exquisite  and  their  relish 
greater.  "  Thus  it  is,"  writes  Trelawney. 
"A  bright  charcoal  fire  was  burning  in  a 
small  stove.  Kamalia  first  took  for  four 
persons  four  handfuls  of  the  small,  pale  Mo- 
cha berry,  little  bigger  than  barley.  These 
had  been  carefully  picked  and  cleaned.  She 
put  them  into  an  iron  vessel,  where,  with  ad- 
mirable quickness  and  dexterity,  they  were 
roasted  till 'their  color  was  somewhat  dark- 
ened and  the  moisture  not  exhaled.  The 
over-roasted  ones  were  picked  out,  and  the 
remainder,  while  very  hot,  put  into  a  large 
wooden  mortar,  where  they  were  instantly 
pounded  by  another  woman.  This  done, 
Kamalia  passed  the  powder  through  a  cam- 
el's-hair  cloth,  and  then  repassed  it  through 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  1 29 

a  finer  cloth.  Meanwhile  a  coffee-pot,  con- 
taining exactly  four  cups  of  water,  was  boil- 
ing. This  was  taken  off,  one  cup  of  water 
poured  out,  and  three  cups  full  of  the  pow- 
der, after  she  had  ascertained  its  impalpabil- 
ity between  her  finger  and  thumb,  were  stirred 
in  with  a  stick  of  cinnamon.  When  replaced 
on  the  fire,  on  the  point  of  over-boiling  it  was 
taken  off,  the  heel  of  the  pot  struck  against 
the  hob,  and  again  put  on  the  fire ;  this  was 
repeated  five  or  six  times.  I  forgot  to  men- 
tion she  added  a  very  minute  piece  of  mace, 
not  enough  to  make  its  flavor  distinguishable ; 
and  that  the  coffee-pot  must  be  of  tin,  and  un- 
covered, or  it  cannot  form  a  thick  cream  on 
the  surface,  which  it  ought  to  do.  After  it 
was  taken  for  the  last  time  from  the  fire  the 
cup  of  water  which  had  been  poured  from  it 
was  returned.  It  was  then  carried  into  the 
room,  without  being  disturbed,  and  instantly 
poured  into  the  cups,  where  it  retained  its 
rich  cream  at  the  top.  Thus  made  its  fra- 
grance filled  the  room,  and  nothing  could  be 
more  delicious  to  the  palate.  So  far  from  its 
being  a  long  and  tedious  process,  as  it  may 
appear  in  narrating,  old  Kamalia  allowed 
herself  only  two  minutes  for  each  person ; 
so  that  from  the  time  of  her  leaving  the 
9 


130  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

room  to  her  return  no  more  than  eight  min- 
utes had  elapsed." 

For  making  coffee  in  the  Turkish  fashion 
the  berries  require  to  be  ground  to  a  very- 
fine  powder.  The  Turks  have  small  hand- 
mills  for  private  use,  but  in  the  caf^s  the  ber- 
ries are  crushed  in  big  iron  mortars  with  long 
pestles,  whose  ringing  sound  is  one  of  the 
characteristic  noises  of  the  streets  of  Stam- 
boul.  Turkish  mills  and  the  dainty  little  tin 
pans  containing  one,  two,  three,  or  four  cups 
are  now  easily  obtainable  in  Western  shops, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  a  spirit-lamp,  Turkish 
coffee  may  be  prepared  on  the  table  more 
expeditiously  and  with  less  trouble  than  black 
coffee  made  by  the  Western  filter  system. 
The  refinements  mentioned  by  Trelawney 
of  stirring  the  coffee  with  a  cinnamon-stick, 
and  of  adding  a  minute  piece  of  mace,  are 
not  very  commendable.  The  ideal  in  mak- 
ing tea  and  coffee,  as  in  all  delicate  cookery, 
is  to  develop  the  taste  peculiar  to  each  article 
of  food  or  drink.  If  the  flavor  of  the  coffee 
is  fine  in  itself,  it  will  not  gain  anything  by 
the  added  suggestion  of  a  spicy  flavor. 

Black  coffee  needs  to  be  served  piping  hot, 
and  the  cups  and  even  the  spoons  should  be 
heated  before  the  coffee  is  poured  out.    Noth- 


ON  PARATRIPTICS.  I3I 

ing  is  more  saddening  after  dinner  than  tepid 
coffee. 

For  sweetening  both  tea  and  coffee  loaf- 
sugar  is  to  be  used.  There  is  no  objection 
against  powdered  sugar,  provided  it  be  free 
from  adulteration.  For  sweetening  cold  cof- 
fee, which  is  sometimes  a  grateful  beverage 
in  hot  weather,  syrup  of  gum  is  more  con- 
venient than  any  form  of  sugar. 

Finally,  whatever  method  you  employ  to 
make  your  tea  or  coffee,  start  with  good  ma- 
terials, manipulate  them  delicately  and  with 
care  in  every  detail. 


XIII. 

THE  DINING-ROOM  AND   ITS 
DECORATION. 

In  these  days  of  "  decorative  art,"  it  is 
necessary  to  say  something  about  the  aspect 
of  a  dining-room  and  its  ornamentation. 
Doubtless  the  best  ornament  for  a  dining- 
room  is  a  well-cooked  dinner,  but  that  dinner 
will  taste  all  the  better  in  a  room  that  is  ra- 
tionally furnished,  agreeably  decorated,  and 
heated  just  to  the  right  point. 

As  regards  the  furnishing  and  decoration, 
much  must  be  left  to  individual  taste  ;  at  the 
same  time  there  is  reason  to  protest  against 
two  influences  which  are  equally  irrational, 
the  one  French,  and  the  other  English,  and 
both  resulting  in  making  a  dining-room  a 
sombre  and  severe  place.  There  is  no  reason 
why  the  darker  shades  of  green,  brown,  and 
red,  should  be  reserved  for  dining-rooms ;  I 
have  eaten  delightfully  in  a  room  where  the 
panelling  was  painted  pale  lilac,  picked  out 
with  blue  and  salmon  red ;  and  against  this 


THE  DINING-ROOM.  1 33 

background  the  ladies,  with  fresh  flowers  in 
their  hair,  stood  out  like  a  spring  meadow 
against  a  vernal  sky.  It  is  not  forbidden  to 
make  a  dining-room  gay  in  tone.  The  fur- 
niture is  not  necessarily  of  dark  mahogany 
or  oak.  The  Henri  II.  dining-room,  now  so 
fashionable,  with  its  heavy  curtains  and  por- 
tieres^ its  monumental  fire-places,  mantels, 
and  andirons,  and  its  walls  decked  out  with 
arms,  bibelots,  tapestries,  and  what  not,  is  the 
most  unreasonable  of  all  dining-rooms.  All 
tapestry,  portieres,  hangings,  bibelots,  and 
other  such  things  are  objectionable,  because 
they  absorb  the  odors  given  forth  by  the 
drinks  and  viands.  The  display  of  armor  on 
the  walls  is  a  silly  affectation.  There  is  no 
excuse  whatever  for  converting  a  dining-room 
into  a  museum,  and  for  this  reason  one  does 
not  wish  to  see  the  walls  hung  over  with 
plates  and  dishes.  The  proper  place  for 
plates  and  dishes  when  not  in  use  is  in  a 
cupboard,  or  on  the  shelves  of  a  drawer.  All 
archaic  decoration  is  peculiarly  out  of  place 
in  a  dining-room,  where  the  principal  object, 
the  table,  when  laid  out  for  breakfast  or  for 
dinner,  is  radically  and  absolutely  modern. 
This  room  seems  to  me  peculiarly  worthy  of 
the  attention  of  our  modern  decorative  art- 


134  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ists,  who  might  deliver  us  from  the  heavy 
and  pompous  splendor  of  the  English,  and 
of  the  silly  feudalism  and  baronialism  of  the 
French  Henri  II.  room,  if  they  would  only 
consent  to  neglect  fashion,  and  apply  their 
reasoning  powers  to  the  solution  of  the 
problem. 

A  host  may  show  his  personality  and  his 
taste  in  the  arrangement  of  his  dining-room 
as  much  as  in  his  dress,  or  in  his  conversa- 
tion, and  yet  nowhere  do  we  see  so  little 
originality.  People  are  singularly  conserva- 
tive in  all  that  concerns  the  art  of  entertain- 
ing. The  finest  dinners  nowadays  are  terri- 
bly monotonous ;  over  and  over  again  the 
same  menu  is  served  in  the  same  way  and 
in  the  same  conditions  of  7nilieu  and  decora- 
tion. The  dining-room  need  not  be  a  dark- 
toned,  impersonal  place  of  immutable  aspect. 
That  correct  gentleman,  Comte  M0I6,  when 
he  received  one  of  his  friends  of  the  diplo- 
matic corps,  would  place  in  his  salle  a  manger 
plants,  flowers,  and  pictures  which  reminded 
his  guest  of  his  fatherland.  Lord  Lonsdale 
carried  his  refinement  so  far  as  to  have  a 
series  of  dining-rooms  with  hangings,  furni- 
ture, and  porcelain  appropriate  in  tone  to  the 
color  of  the  hair  and  the  kind  of  beauty  of 


THE  DINING-ROOM.  1 35 

the  lady  he  was  feting.  On  a  less  grandiose 
scale,  I  know  an  amiable  hostess  in  London 
whose  dining-room  walls  are  covered  with  a 
rose-colored  Louis  XVL  striped  silk,  and  who 
has  the  two  maids  who  serve  at  table  dressed 
in  colors  and  patterns  that  harmonize  with 
the  walls  of  the  room. 

In  a  dining-room  the  aim  of  the  decorator 
should  be  simplicity  and  gayety  of  aspect ; 
and  the  materials  which  he  may  best  use  are 
wainscoting,  or  lambris,  of  the  styles  of  Louis 
XIIL,  XIV.,  XV.,  and  XVL,  or  of  modern  de- 
sign, if  he  can  find  a  designer,  stucco,  lacquered 
woodwork,  panelling  filled  in  with  stamped 
leather,  or  decorative  painting,  neo-Greek 
decoration,  simple  panelling,  either  of  natural 
wood  or  of  wood  painted  in  plain  colors,  or, 
finally,  simple  wall-paper,  only  let  it  be  re- 
membered that  the  paper  need  not  be  of 
dark  hue. 

Madame  de  Pompadour's  dining-room  at 
Bellevue  was  decorated  with  hunting  and 
fishing  scenes  by  Oudry,  and  the  attributes 
of  these  sports  were  repeated  on  the  wood- 
work carved  by  Verbreck. 

In  a  little  novelette  by  Bastide,  called  "  La 
Petite  Maison,"  we  find  a  curious  contempo- 
rary description  of  a  dining-room  in  one  of 


136  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

those  elegant  villas  where  the  rich  French- 
men of  the  eighteenth  century  indulged  their 
tastes  for  refinement  and  luxury  of  all  kinds. 
"  The  walls,"  we  read, "  are  covered  with  stucco 
of  various  colors,  executed  by  the  celebrated 
Clerici.  The  compartments,  or  panels,  con- 
tain bass-reliefs  of  stucco,  modelled  by  the  fam- 
ous Falconet,  who  has  represented  the  fetes 
pf  Comus  and  of  Bacchus.  The  trophies 
which  adorn  the  pilasters  of  the  decoration 
are  by  Vasse,  and  represent  hunting,  fishing, 
the  pleasures  of  the  table,  those  of  love,  etc. ; 
and  from  each  of  these  trophies,  twelve  in 
number,  springs  a  candelabrum,  or  torchere, 
with  six  branches."  I  recommend  architects 
and  amateurs  to  read  the  great  architect 
Blondel's  two  volumes  on  "  La  Distribution 
des  Maisons  de  Plaisance"  (Paris,  1737),  where 
they  will  see  how  great  was  the  refinement 
of  the  French  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and, 
above  all,  how  delicate  the  tonalities  of  lilac, 
blue,  rose,  and  bright  grays  which  they  pre- 
ferred to  give  to  the  walls  of  their  dwellings. 
At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
influence  of  the  discovery  of  Pompeii  and 
Herculaneum  naturally  made  itself  felt,  and 
the  dining-rooms  of  the  Directory  and  of  the 
First  Empire  were  arranged  in  the  antique 


THE  DINING-ROOM.  1 37 

fashion  with  stucco  or  marble,  adorned  with 
columns  and  pilasters,  and  friezes,  either  with 
bare  walls  or  with  walls  decorated  with 
stucco  bass-reliefs,  or  Pompeian  arabesques. 
The  neo-Greek  or  Pompeian  style  still  has  its 
advocates.  During  the  second  empire,  Prince 
Napoleon  had  a  Pompeian  palace  built  in 
the  Avenue  Montaigne,  at  Paris,  from  de- 
'signs  by  M.  Alfred  Normand.  In  this  palace, 
which  is  in  reality  only  a  very  modest  villa, 
the  dining-room  is  lighted  by  a  large  window 
divided  into  three,  by  two  pilasters ;  the 
ceiling  is  panelled  in  caissons,  and  the  walls 
are  panelled  in  red,  blue,  and  yellow,  which 
colors  serve  as  the  ground  for  the  most  deli- 
cate ornamentation  that  the  Pompeian  style 
created — slender  columns,  trellises,  long  fila- 
ments of  plants,  light  garlands,  blond  or  ver- 
meil fruits,  bows  of  ribbon,  birds,  cups,  mu- 
sical instruments,  chimeres^  intermingled  dis- 
creetly with  ears  of  corn,  fish,  and  game, 
which  reveal  the  intention  of  the  room 
without  sating  the  eyes  before  sating  the 
stomach,  as  is  often  the  result  of  our  modern 
game  and  fruit  pieces,  fitter  to  serve  as  a 
sign  for  a  butcher's  shop  than  as  a  vision 
to  be  placed  before  the  eyes  of  dehcate 
gourmets. 


138  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Some  of  the  dining-rooms  of  the  Directory 
epoch  which  still  remain,  or  of  which  we  have 
drawings,  must  have  been  very  pleasant  to 
the  eye.  A  typical  house  of  that  period 
was  one  designed  by  the  architect  and  deco- 
rator Bellanger,  for  a  celebrity  of  the  epoch, 
Mademoiselle  Dervieux.  The  basis  of  the 
decoration  of  her  dining-room  was  gray, 
white,  and  yellow  stucco ;  the  over-doors  were' 
bass-reliefs  of  white  stucco  on  Wedgewood- 
blue  ground,  the  doors  of  unpolished  ma- 
hogany with  medallions  and  panels  in  yellow 
wood,  framed  with  silver  fillets  and  painted 
with  arabesques  and  subjects,  the  pilasters 
of  Sienna  yellow  covered  with  silver  ara- 
besques. Some  elaborate  specimens  of  this 
style  of  decoration  may  be  seen  in  several  of 
the  Russian  imperial  palaces.  I  do  not  abso- 
lutely recommend  the  Directory  style  for 
imitation,  but  there  are  valuable  hints  to  be 
obtained  from  the  tender-colored  and  often 
tasteful  arrangements  of  that  period.  In 
England,  the  painter  Whistler  has  contrib- 
uted his  mite  of  influence  towards  emanci- 
pating people  from  the  traditional  dinginess 
and  sombre  tones  of  dining-room  furniture 
and  decoration.  The  painter's  own  dining- 
room  is  canary  yellow,  with  blue  and  white 


THE  DINING-ROOM.  1 39 

china  as  a  decoration.  A  famous  dining-room, 
designed  and  painted  by  Whistler,  for  Mr. 
Leyland's  house,  is  pale  blue  and  pale  gold, 
covered  with  arabesques  that  suggest  the 
motif  of  peacocks  and  their  feathers.  The 
only  decoration  of  this  room  is  composed  of 
decorative  peacock  panels  on  the  shutters  of 
the  windows,  and  on  the  walls  a  collection 
of  blue-and-white  Chinese  porcelain  arranged 
on  gilt  shelves. 


XIV. 
ON  DINING-TABLES, 

How  true  is  that  maxim  of  Paulus  ^mili- 
us,  when  he  was  to  entertain  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, after  his  glorious  expedition  into  Greece  : 
"  There  is  equal  skill  required  to  bring  an 
army  into  the  field  and  to  set  forth  a  mag- 
nificent entertainment,  for  the  object  in  the 
first  case  is  to  annoy  your  enemy  as  far  as 
possible,  and  in  the  second  to  give  pleasure 
to  your  friend."  In  the  art  of  feasting,  Vart 
des  festins,  as  the  gastronomic  writers  of  the 
eighteenth  century  call  it,  the  arrangement  of 
the  table  is  as  important  as  the  preparation  of 
the  food  itself,  for  a  good  dinner  badly  served 
is  a  good  dinner  spoiled. 

The  first  object  that  requires  our  attention 
in  the  dining-room  is  the  table.  It  is  the 
table  that  ought  to  regulate  everything,  the 
table  itself  being  regulated  by  the  normal  stat- 
ure of  the  people  who  are  to  use  it.  Whether 
round,  rectangular,  or  rectangular  with  round 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  I4I 

ends,  telescope  table  or  table  with  inserted 
leaves,  its  size  should  be  based  on  the  fact 
that  each  person  should  be  allowed  30  inches 
of  space  in  width,  and,  in  order  to  insure  free 
circulation  and  perfect  waiting,  a  space  of  six 
feet  is  demanded  between  the  wall  and  the 
backs  of  the  diners'  chairs.  The  proportions 
to  be  observed  in  making  the  table  are  that 
the  length  may  exceed  the  breadth  by  one 
quarter,  one  third,  one  half,  and  very  excep- 
tionally by  three  quarters  for  a  large  company. 
Outside  of  these  proportions  the  equilibrium 
is  destroyed  and  the  service  loses  its  fine  order 
and  unity  ;  we  then  fall  into  those  long  tables 
which  are  a  series  of  tables  juxtaposed — the 
unsociable  tables  of  public  banquets  and  mo- 
nastic refectories.  The  above  proportions  and 
measures  have  been  fixed  by  the  experience 
of  those  who  are  most  interested  in  a  dinner, 
namely,  those  who  eat  it  and  those  who  serve 
it,  and  it  is  in  accordance  with  them  that  the 
dining-room  ought  to  be  constructed,  for  the 
object  of  the  dining-room  is  to  contain  the 
dining-table  and  its  accessories,  that  is  to  say, 
chairs,  dumb-waiters,  side  tables,  and  dressers 
strictly  necessary  for  the  service.  These  meas- 
ures, ample  as  they  are,  do  not  imply  an  im- 
mense room,  for,  be  it  remembered,  from  the 


142  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

remotest  antiquity  the  number  of  guests  that 
can  be  admitted  to  an  artistic  dinner-table 
ought  not  to  exceed  that  of  the  Muses,  nor  to 
be  fewer  than  that  of  the  Graces.  The  din- 
ing-room— the  shape  of  which  should  be  sug- 
gested by  the  shape  of  the  table — needs  two 
doors,  one  communicating  with  a  drawing- 
room,  and  one  with  a  butler's  pantry,  or  indi- 
rectly with  the  kitchen. 

Generally  the  modern  dining -table  errs 
on  the  side  of  too  great  solidity.  The  first 
quality  of  a  table  obviously  is  that  it  should 
be  firm  on  its  legs,  but  there  is  no  reason 
for  exaggerating  its  strength  into  clumsiness. 
Furthermore,  the  dining-table  of  richly  carved 
oak,  walnut,  rosewood,  or  mahogany  is  a  use- 
less luxury ;  the  ornamentation  is  misplaced 
and  often  fatal  to  knees  ;  the  richness  of  the 
material  itself  is  lost,  inasmuch  as  the  table  is 
always  covered  with  a  cloth.  A  table,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Johnson,  is  "  a  horizontal  surface 
raised  above  the  ground  and  used  for  meals 
and  other  purposes."  Roubo,  in  his  treatise 
on  joinery  and  cabinet-making,  written  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  (1770), 
says  that  tables  are  all  composed  of  a  top  and 
of  one  or  more  feet  which  are  fixed  or  mov- 
able or  folding.     Of  all  the  furniture  ever 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  I43 

made,  the  French  furniture  of  the  eighteenth 
century  seems  to  me  the  most  rational,  the 
most  convenient,  and  the  most  tasteful.  Of 
all  the  cookery  ever  achieved,  that  of  the  time 
of  the  Regent  was  probably  the  most  exquis- 
ite. A  contemporary  of  the  petite  soupers 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  Grimm,  the  author 
of  the  famous  ''  Correspondance  Litt^raire," 
questions  very  much  whether  *'the  sumptu- 
ousness  of  the  Roman  tables  could  enter  into 
any  comparison  with  the  studied  refinement 
of  the  French."  We  may  therefore  ask  with 
curiosity  what  kinds  of  tables  were  used,  and 
we  shall  find  in  Roubo's  "  Art  du  Menuisier 
Ebeniste"  the  following  excellent  theoretical 
remarks  on  the  subject : 

*'  Eating-tables,"  says  Roubo,  "  are  not  sus- 
ceptible of  any  decoration  ;  they  consist  sim- 
ply of  several  planks  of  pine  or  some  other 
light  wood  joined  together  with  tongue  and 
groove,  and  bound  with  oak  at  the  ends. 
These  tables,  or  rather  these  table-tops,  are 
almost  all  of  one  shape,  that  is  to  say,  a  par- 
allelogram larger  or  smaller  according  to  the 
number  of  covers.  Formerly  eating- tables 
were  made  round  or  oval,  but  at  present  these 
forms  are  little  used.  The  size  of  tables  is 
determined,  as  I  have  just  said,  by  the  num- 


144  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ber  of  guests,  to  each  of  whom  ought  to  be 
attributed  at  least  two  feet  of  room,  or,  bet- 
ter still,  three  feet,  especially  when  there  are 
many  ladies  at  a  meal,  because  their  dresses 
take  up  much  more  ro6m  than  those  of  men." 

Roubo  calculates  his  small,  medium,  and 
large  tables  on  the  basis  of  two  feet  for  each 
cover,  and  his  largest  table  for  ten  persons  is 
six  by  five  feet.  When  a  larger  number  of 
guests  had  to  be  accommodated,  recourse  was 
had  to  leaves  or  flaps  and  to  composite  or 
juxtaposed  tables.  Grand  feasts  were  always 
served  on  composite  tables.  Roubo  thus 
sums  up  the  practices  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury in  the  matter  of  tables : 

"  Large  tables  are  those  which  can  not  only 
accommodate  a  large  number  of  guests,  but 
also  the  middle  of  which  is  large  enough  to 
hold  a  surtout  de  decoration^  either  of  flowers, 
sweetmeats,  etc.,  which,  with  the  number  of 
covers  given,  determines  precisely  the  size  of 
these  tables,  on  the  principle  that  there  should 
be  two  feet  of  room  around  the  dormant^  or 
plateau  which  forms  the  basis  of  the  decora- 
tive centre-piece.  As  these  tables  are  ordina- 
rily very  large,  they  are  , made  up  of  a  num- 
ber of  tables  joined  together  with  tongue  and 
groove  and  held  by  clamps  placed  at  inter- 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  I45 

vals.  These  tables  are  placed  as  solidly  as 
possible  on  trestles  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
trestles  may  be  about  a  foot  inside  from  the 
edge  of  the  table  so  as  not  to  inconvenience 
those  who  are  seated  around. 

"  Besides  the  large  tables  I  have  just  men- 
tioned," continues  Roubo,  "  there  are  also 
hollow  tables,  commonly  termed  horse-shoe 
tables,  either  with  the  upper  end  round  or 
forming  simply  an  elbow.  Both  these  tables 
are  very  convenient,  inasmuch  as  the  service 
can  be  performed  from  the  inside  without 
interfering  with  those  who  are  seated  round. 
Their  only  disadvantage  is  that  they  can  only 
receive  artificial  surtouts  of  moderate  size, 
which  is  in  my  opinion  no  great  misfortune, 
for  in  point  of  fact  the  enormous  surtouts 
with  which  the  tables  of  the  great  are  loaded 
serve  only  to  render  the  waiting  more  diffi- 
cult and  even  inconvenient,  and  to  obstruct 
the  view  of  all  the  guests,  who  can,  only  with 
difficulty  and  manoeuvring,  see  the  other  side 
of  the  table."  The  breadth  of  Roubo's  horse- 
shoe table  is  three  feet,  and  the  height  of  all 
his  eating-tables  twenty-seven  to  twenty-eight 
inches. 

A  rare  volume  called  "  Le  Cannam^liste 
Francais,"  pubHshed  at  Nancy  in  1761  by 
10 


146  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Gilliers,  who  was  head  butler,  or  chef  d' office, 
and  distiller  to  King  Stanislas,  may  be  con- 
sulted with  profit  by  those  who  are  curious 
as  to  the  service  and  aspect  of  eighteenth- 
century  tables.  It  is  a  big  volume,  where, 
in  the  midst  of  charming  copper-plate  en- 
gravings representing  desserts  laid  out  in  toy- 
gardens,  with  grass-plots  of  chenille,  and  walks 
of  nonpareille  to  imitate  gravel,  you  find 
recipes  for  pomegranate  jam,  syrup  of  jas- 
mine, candy  of  violets,  roses,  and  jonquils 
— odorous  and  ethereal  quintessences  which 
remind  one  of  the  sweetmeats  of  a  feast  in 
the  "Arabian  Nights."  Gilliers's  book  is  a 
complete  manual  of  the  art  of  delicate  feast- 
ing according  to  the  received  ideas  of  the 
time  of  Louis  XV.  About  this  matter  of 
tables,  Gilliers  has  the  most  delightfully  fan- 
tastic notions.  The  classification  of  tables 
into  round,  square,  oblong,  and  horse -shoe 
forms  does  not  satisfy  him  ;  he  maintains 
that  a  table  may  have  any  form  that  we 
please  to  give  to  it,  and  in  a  cut  which  we  here 
reproduce  he  shows  us  a  table  of  most  amus- 
ing and  capricious  contour,  suggestive  of  the 
influence  of  contemporary  rocaille  forms. 
This  table  is  built  up  by  means  of  composite 
tops,  keyed  on  treadles.    In  his  book,  Gilliers 


ON   DINING-TABLES. 


147 


gives  a  dozen  plans 
of  tables  of  capri- 
cious arabesque  and 
rocaille  forms,  ac- 
companied by  mi- 
nute directions  for 
drawing  the  figures 
and  sawing  them 
out  of  deal  boards. 
To  make  such  ta- 
bles is  very  easy 
and  simple,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that 
if  some  lady  would 
take  the  trouble  to 
give  a  grand  feast 
at  a  table  such  as 
the  one  figured  in 
our  cut,  she  would 
not  regret  her  ele- 
gant initiative. 

It  seems  to  me 
that  in  this  matter 
of  dining-tables  we 
might  with  ad- 
vantage struggle 
against  tradition 
and  devote  just  a 


148  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

little  reasoning  to  the  question.  Let  us  take, 
for  instance,  the  large  round  tables  used  in 
many  of  the  New  York  club-houses.  These 
tables  are  monuments ;  their  diameter  enor- 
mous ;  their  centre  quite  beyond  the  reach  of 
those  who  are  seated  around  the  periphery; 
the  "horizontal  surface  raised  above  the 
ground  "  is  greater  than  is  needed,  and  much 
of  it  remains  waste  to  be  encumbered  only 
by  massive  and  useless  ornaments,  plate,  or 
what  not.  And  yet  there  are  doubtless  many 
who  imagine  that  these  round  tables  are 
similar  in  all  essentials  to  those  which  the 
Arthurian  legend  and  the  romances  of  chiv- 
alry have  rendered  famous.  This  is  prob- 
ably a  mistake ;  the  round  tables  of  chivalry 
were,  I  imagine,  hollow  or  broken  circles  like 
the  table  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut 
taken  from  an  illuminated  manuscript  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  With  the  exception  of 
the  fixed  seats  or  stalls,  which  seem  difficult 
of  access,  this  round  table  is  perfectly  con- 
venient ;  it  is  no  wider  than  is  necessary ;  it 
is  covered  with  a  fair  and  beautifully  em- 
broidered cloth,  and  it  is  most  convenient 
for  the  service,  which  is  performed  by  the 
little  pages  whom  we  see  in  the  centre,  dis- 
creetly attentive  to  the  wants  of  the  quaint 


ON  DINING-TABLES. 


149 


old  magnates  who  are  seen  in  the   act   of 
dining. 

With  our  modern  round  or  square  tables 


ROUND  TABLE  OF  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 


the  service  is  always  inconvenient.  What 
can  be  more  disagreeable  than  the  ordinary 
modern  system  of  service  executed  by  wait- 
ers who   approach    the   diner  treacherously 


I50  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

from  behind,  pass  the  dish  over  his  left 
shoulder,  and  occasionally  pour  a  few  drops 
of  gravy  over  his  coat-sleeve  ?  Curiously 
enough,  this  question  of  serving  feasts  has 
not  occupied  the  attention  of  many  writers. 
Books  on  the  duties  of  the  maitre  d' hotel  are 
rare,  and  the  matter  has  only  been  touched 
upon  incidentally  in  the  regular  treatises  on 
the  culinary  art,  which  were  themselves  rare 
until  modern  times ;  for,  as  the  gastronomic 
poet.  Dr.  William  King,  has  remarked, 

"  Tho'  cooks  are  often  men  of  pregnant  wit, 
Thro'  niceness  of  their  subject  few  have  writ." 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  which  were  far  more 
refined  in  manner  than  most  people  believe, 
the  general  disposition  of  the  dining-table 
was  borrowed  from  the  usage  of  the  abbeys 
and  convents,  and  it  was  precisely  the  dis- 
position still  maintained  in  the  English  uni- 
versities at  the  present  day.  The  principal 
table  was  laid  on  a  raised  platform  or  floor 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  dining-hall,  and  re- 
ceived the  name  of  "  high  table,"  a  term  still 
in  use  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The  guests 
sat  on  one  side  of  the  table  only ;  the  place 
of  honor  was  in  the  centre  ;  and  the  principal 
personage  sat  under  a  canopy  or  cloth  of  state, 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  I51 

hung  up  for  the  occasion,  or  under  a  perma- 
nent panelled  canopy  curving  outwards. 

At  Florence,  in  the  time  of  the  Renais- 
sance, the  guests  appear  to  have  sat  on  one 
side  of  the  table  and  at  the  ends.  Such  is 
the  arrangement  in  Pinturrichio's  pictures  of 
the  Story  of  Griselidis  now  in  the  National 
Gallery  at  London.  One  of  these  pictures 
represents  a  feast  served  under  a  portico  built 
in  a  garden.  The  guests  are  seated  along 
one  side  and  at  the  ends  of  a  long  and  nar- 
row table.  The  waiters  carry  long  napkins 
thrown  over  their  shoulders  or  streaming  in 
the  wind  like  scarfs  as  they  walk.  In  the 
collection  of  Mr.  Leyland,  at  London,  there 
is  a  beautiful  picture  by  Sandro  Botticelli 
representing  a  feast  served  in  a  lovely  green 
meadow  under  a  portico  having  five  pillars 
on  each  side.  In  the  background,  at  a  short 
distance  off,  is  a  sort  of  triumphal  arch,  and 
beyond  it  you  see  a  landscape  and  a  lake 
with  boats  and  islands  crowned  with  castles. 
In  the  foreground  is  a  dresser  richly  draped 
with  precious  stuffs  and  laden  with  massive 
gold  plate  and  parade  dishes  and  ewers. 
There  are  two  tables,  arranged  parallel  and 
in  perspective,  and  the  guests  are  seated  on 
one  side  only,  at  one  table  the  women,  and 


152  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

at  the  other  the  men,  the  former  against  a 
background  of  garlands  of  verdure  and  flow- 
ers stretched  from  pillar  to  pillar  behind  the 
bench  on  which  they  are  seated.  Remark 
this  separation  of  the  women  from  the  men, 
and  read  an  account  of  a  bachelor's  supper- 
party  at  Rome,  given  by  Benvenuto  Cellini, 
in  his  fascinating  autobiography.  "  When 
the  banquet  was  served  and  ready,  and  we 
were  going  to  sit  down  to  table,  Giulio  asked 
leave  to  be  allowed  to  place  us.  This  being 
granted,  he  took  the  women  by  the  hand, 
and  arranged  them  all  upon  the  inner  side, 
with  my  fair  in  the  centre ;  then  he  placed 
all  the  men  on  the  outside,  and  me  in  the 
middle.  As  a  background  to  the  women 
there  was  spread  an  espalier  of  natural  jas- 
mines in  full  beauty,  which  set  off  their  charms 
to  such  great  advantage  that  words  would 
fail  to  describe  the  effect."  (J.  A.  Symonds's 
translation.) 

Both  in  Pinturrichio's  and  Botticelli's  pict- 
ures, the  costume,  the  manner  of  carrying 
the  dishes,  and  the  stately  rhythmic  walk  of 
the  waiters  is  particularly  noticeable,  and  on 
this  point  I  would  refer  the  curious  to  Fran- 
cesco Colonna's  '^  Hypnerotomachia,"  first 
published  in  1499,  where  there  is  a  most  minute 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  1 53 

account  of  a  feast  given  in  the  palace  of 
Queen  Elentherilide.  At  this  feast,  where, 
with  the  exception  of  Poliphilo,  only  the 
queen  and  her  maidens  are  present,  the  guests 
are  seated  on  one  side  of  the  tables  only,  ex- 
actly as  we  see  in  Botticelli's  picture  above 
noted  on  benches  placed  along  the  walls. 
The  manner  of  carrying  the  dishes  and  nap- 
kins is  described  exactly,  and  corresponds  in 
all  points  with  the  attitudes  and  bearing  of 
the  waiters  in  the  two  pictures  in  question. 
The  sumptuousness  of  this  feast  surpasses 
everything  that  has  ever  been  seen  or  imag- 
ined. I  have  space  only  to  note  one  or  two 
details.  Each  guest  was  waited  upon  by 
three  maidens  dressed  in  magnificent  gar- 
ments of  the  same  color  as  the  table-cloth ; 
with  each  course,  the  table-cloth  and  the 
flowers  were  changed,  and  the  attendant 
maidens'  garments  likewise ;  the  table-cloths 
were  of  silk  or  satin,  and  of  sea-green,  rose, 
amethyst,  and  other  colors,  successively. 

The  art  and  the  literature  of  the  past 
would  furnish  many  other  proofs  of  the  re- 
finement of  our  ancestors  in  their  table-ser- 
vice, but  perhaps  the  above-mentioned  in- 
stances will  suffice  to  suggest  to  some  hosts 
the  idea  of  rebelling  against  too  rigid  tradi- 


154  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

tions.  Our  modern  system  of  alternating 
men  and  women  at  table,  side  by  side,  is  ah 
ancient  one  also,  but  the  plan  noticed  by 
Benvenuto  Cellini  might  be  tried  occasion- 
ally, and  it  would  be  a  very  refined  fancy  to 
arrange  a  background  especially  to  set  off 
the  beauty  of  a  bevy  of  fair  ladies  arranged 
at  table  in  a  group,  for  their  own  pleasure, 
of  course,  but  also  for  the  delectation  of  the 
eyes  of  the  men.  As  regards  the  guests 
being  seated  on  one  side  of  the  table  only, 
and  being  served  from  the  front  and  not 
from  the  back,  I  consider  this  reform,  or 
rather  this  return  to  the  practices  of  the 
past,  to  be  very  desirable. 

The  necessity  of  having  waiters  at  table 
is  regrettable.  Male  waiters  are  often,  if 
not  generally,  dreadful  phenomena.  There 
is  nothing  more  shocking  to  the  gourmet 
than  the  vision  of  the  waiter's  abominable 
thumb  grasping  the  rim  of  a  plate  and 
threatening  at  every  moment  to  come  into 
contact  with  the  soup  or  the  meat  that  he 
is  passing.  Even  when  this  thumb  is  veiled 
in  a  spotless  white  cotton  glove,  it  still  re- 
mains objectionable ;  on  this  point,  I  agree 
with  the  painter  W.  P.  Frith,  who  says  in 
one  chapter  of  his  "  Reminiscences :"  "  I  think 


ON  DINING-TABLES.  1 55 

if  I  were  ever  so  rich,  I  should  as  much  as 
possible  avoid  men-servants ;  not  that  I  have 
a  word  to  say  against  a  highly  respectable 
portion  of  the  community,  but  being,  like 
the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  an  admirer  of  happy 
faces,  I  am  also  an  admirer  of  pretty  ones, 
only  they  must  be  of  the  female  order." 

The  delicate  gourmets  of  the  eighteenth 
century  devoted  much  ingenuity  to  solving 
the  problem  of  waiting  at  table,  and  several 
of  them  invented  costly  apparatus  for  raising 
and  lowering  the  table  through  the  floor  al- 
ready served.  Grimod  de  la  Reyniere  was  the 
sworn  enemy  of  servants,  and  the  dream  of 
his  life  was  to  discover  some  machine  to 
replace  those  human  machines  which  have 
always  too  many  eyes  and  too  many  ears, 
and  render  all  expansiveness  impossible  or 
imprudent.  In  1728  the  Margravine  of 
Bayreuth  speaks  in  her  curious  memoirs  of 
a  table  de  confiance  which  was  worked  by 
means  of  pulleys.  **  No  servants  are  needed," 
she  says ;  "  they  are  replaced  by  drums 
placed  at  the  side  of  the  guests,  who  write 
what  they  want  on  a  tablet ;  the  drums  de- 
scend into  the  kitchen,  and  ascend  again 
with  the  objects  required."  Forty  years  later, 
Loriot,  an  ingenious  man  who  had  discovered 


156  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

a  means  of  fixing  pastel,  invented  for  Marie 
Antoinette's  service,  at  Trianon,  a  table  far 
superior  to  the  Margravine's  system  of  lifts. 
It  was  a  table  which  rose  through  the  floor, 
all  served,  and  accompanied  by  four  little 
tables,  or  dumb-waiters,  on  which  were  placed 
the  various  utensils  necessary.  A  similar  ar- 
rangement is  described  in  Bastide's  "  La  Pe- 
tite Maison,"  already  mentioned. 


XV. 
ON  TABLE-SERVICE. 

"  What  neat  repast  shall  feast  us,  light  and  choice, 
Of  Attic  taste,  with  wine,  whence  we  may  rise 
To  hear  the  lute  well  touch'd,  or  artful  voice 
Warble  immortal  notes  and  Tuscan  air  ? 
He  who  of  those  delights  can  judge,  and  spare 
To  interpose  them  oft  is  not  unwise." 

John  Milton. 

The  desirable  thing,  in  the  words  of  the 
poet,  is  a  ''  neat  repast."  There  is  not  only 
an  art  of  preparing  a  delicate  feast,  but  an 
art  of  eating  one,  and  this  latter  art  is  not  so 
advanced  as  it  might  be.  Method  in  eating 
is  all-important,  and  the  only  method  is  the 
English,  for  the  English  eat  with  ease  and 
without  embarrassing  their  neighbors.  Du- 
bois, who  had  long  experience  at  the  court  of 
Berlin,  says,  in  his  "  Cuisine  de  Tous  les  Pays," 
that  it  seems  difficult  and  embarrassing  to 
eat  according  to  any  method  except  the  Eng- 
lish, but  as  he  probably  had  seen  many  Ger- 
mans eating  differently,  he  proceeds  to  ex- 


158  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

pound  the  English  method,  the  whole  theory 
and  practice  of  which  consists  in  using  the 
fork  always  with  the  left  hand  and  the  knife 
and  spoon  with  the  right.  The  fork  is  to  be 
held  with  the  index  finger  stretched  out  so 
as  to  maintain  it  in  an  almost  horizontal 
position.  Nothing  seems  clumsier  than  to 
grip  the  fork  with  clenched  fist  and  to  hold 
it  perpendicular  as  the  Germans  often  do. 
Nothing  is  less  "  English  you  know  "  than  to 
convey  food  to  the  mouth  with  the  knife  or 
to  touch  fish  with  a  knife.  When  you  are 
not  using  your  knife  and  fork,  lay  them  on 
your  plate  with  the  handle  of  the  one  turned 
to  the  right  and  the  handle  of  the  other 
turned  to  the  left,  ready  to  be  taken  up  at 
once.  The  knife  and  fork  should  be  laid  on 
the  plate,  the  one  crossing  the  other,  only 
when  you  have  finished  eating  altogether. 
A  case  when  the  fork  may  be  used  with  the 
right  hand  is  in  eating  fish.  These  points 
seem  so  simple  and  elementary  that  it  would 
appear  useless  to  put  them  down  in  writing, 
and  yet  a  little  experience  of  tables  d'hdte, 
particularly  on  the  European  continent,  will 
show  that  there  are  still  many  well-dressed 
people  in  this  world  who  eat  like  savages  and 
not  at  all  according  to  the  English  method. 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  1 59 

At  a  table  d'hdte  in  Hanover  I  remember  once 
sitting  beside  a  German  lady,  a  banker's  wife, 
who  borrowed  my  scarf-pin  to  pick  her  teeth 
with  after  dinner.  This  was  not  only  a  proof 
of  bad  manners,  but  also  of  hygienic  impru- 
dence, because  a  metal  toothpick  spoils  the 
enamel  of  the  teeth.  For  toothpicking  pur- 
poses a  lentisk  stick  is  best,  though  a  quill  is 
not  harmful,  as  Martial  says  in  one  of  his 
epigrams : 

"  Lentiscum  melius  :  sed  si  tibi  frondea  cuspis 
Defuerit,  denies,  penna,  levare  potes." 

In  order  to  be  comfortably  seated  at  table 
the  chair  must  be  neither  too  high  nor  too 
low,  and  above  all  it  should  not  be  so  heavy 
that  it  needs  an  effort  to  move  it  an  inch, 
nor  should  it  be  rough  with  carving  that 
sticks  into  your  shoulders  when  you  lean 
back,  or  catches  and  tears  the  dresses  of  the 
women.  These  details  also  may  seem  un- 
worthy of  being  written  down,  but  experi- 
ence has  hitherto  revealed  to  me  very  few 
reasonably  constructed  dining-room  chairs.  A 
wealthy  New  York  banker  recently  had  made 
in  Europe  some  massive  bronze  dining-room 
chairs.    His  example  is  not  to  be  commended. 

The  table-cloth  should  be  laid,  not  directly 


l6o  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

on  the  table,  but  over  a  thick  cotton  blanket. 
The  cloth  itself  should  be  spotlessly  clean, 
and  if  this  condition  exist  much  will  be  par- 
doned ;  it  may  be  pure  white  linen  or  dam- 
ask, or  it  may  have  a  colored  pattern  woven 
or  embroidered  along  the  edges.  The  use  of 
color  in  the  pattern  of  table  linen  is  by  no 
means  novel.  In  the  miniatures  of  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries  the  table-cloths 
and  the  long,  narrow  dresser  cloths  are  con- 
stantly represented  with  rose  or  blue  stripes 
and  borders.  Some  luxurious  table-cloths 
nowadays  are  not  only  richly  embroidered, 
but  also  adorned  with  inserted  bands  of  lace, 
whfch  give  you  the  sensation  of  dining  off 
a  petticoat.  Such  excess  is  to  be  avoided. 
The  starching  and  stiffening  of  table  linen 
as  practised  in  England  is  not  to  be  recom- 
mended. The  ideal  table-cloth  is  smooth  and 
fair  to  the  eye  ;  it  has  no  obtrusive  glaze  ;  it 
is  soft  to  the  touch,  and  its  folds  are  not  hard 
or  rigid. 

As  regards  the  nature  and  shape  of  the 
tables,  we  have  already  suggested  the  advis- 
ableness  of  rebelling  against  the  tyranny  both 
of  tradition  and  of  the  furniture -makers  of 
Grand  Rapids  (Mich.)  and  elsewhere.  There 
are  hints  for  hostesses  to  be  found  in  Paul 


ON  TABLE  SERVICE.  l6l 

Veronese's  "  Noces  de  Cana,"  and  in  Lippo 
Lippi's  ''  Herod's  Feast."  Lippi's  fresco  in 
the  cathedral  of  Prato  might  be  reproduced 
easily  in  a  Newport  villa  as  a  gastronomic 
tableau  vivant. 

A  most  important  article  absolutely  nec- 
essary for  happiness  at  table  is  the  napkin. 
The  napkin  should  be  soft  and  ample,  and 
absolutely  devoid  of  glaze  or  starch.  The 
English  have  a  detestable  habit  of  stiffening 
table-napkins  so  that  they  are  utterly  inde- 
tergent  and  therefore  useless.  In  all  the  de- 
tails of  table-service  the  chief  consideration 
is  appropriateness  to  the  end.  Napkins  are 
used  to  wipe  the  lips  and  the  fingers,  to  cover 
the  lap,  and  even  to  protect  the  bust.  They 
should  be  fair  pieces  of  linen  of  generous 
dimensions,  say  thirty -four  by  twenty -five 
inches.  May  Comus  preserve  us  from  the  pal- 
try six-by-nine-inch  rag  which  some  Anglo- 
Saxons  would  fain  foist  upon  us  as  napkins. 

The  napkin  will  of  course  match  the  cloth, 
but  if  it  is  embroidered  or  ornamented  in  any 
way,  let  this  decoration  in  no  way  interfere 
with  its  usefulness,  and,  above  all  things,  let 
there  be  no  mottoes  or  inscriptions  ''  charm- 
ingly worked  in  all  kinds  of  odd  places,  in 
one  corner,  or  across  the  middle,  or  along 
II 


1 62  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

one  or  all  the  sides,"  as  Mrs.  Loftie  suggests 
in  her  little  book  "The  Dining- Room." 
"Not  only  are  such  devices  pretty  and  ap- 
propriate," continues  Mrs.  Loftie,  "but  they 
may  sometimes  afford  a  subject  for  dinner 
conversation  when  the  weather  has  been  ex- 
haustively discussed."  Mrs.  Loftie  has  made 
many  excellent  suggestions  in  her  pages  about 
laying  the  table,  but  this  one  is  too  cruel 
and  too  ironical.  If  people's  conversational 
powers  are  so  limited  that  they  require  the 
motto  of  a  table  napkin  to  help  them  out,  it 
w^ere  better  to  prohibit  conversation  at  table 
altogether,  and  have  some  one  read  aloud,  as 
was  the  custom  in  the  old  monasteries,  and 
also  at  the  court  of  Frederick  di  Montefeltro, 
Duke  of  Urbino,  who  used  to  have  Plutarch, 
Xenophon,  and  Aristotle  read  to  him  w^hile 
he  was  at  table,  and  thus  maintained  that 
serene  frame  of  mind  which  is  necessary  for 
happiness  at  meals. 

The  knives  and  forks  used  at  Anglo-Saxon 
tables  are  generally  larger  and  heavier  than 
comfort  requires.  French  knives  and  forks 
are  smaller  and  quite  strong  enough  for  all 
food  that  figures  on  a  civilized  table.  The 
knife  never  exceeds  nine  and  three  quarters 
inches  in  length,  the  small  knives  seven  and 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  1 63 

three  quarters  inches,  and  the  large  forks  eight 
and  one  quarter  inches.  Simple  knives  and 
forks  seem  to  me  to  be  desirable,  and  all 
heavy  and  elaborate  ornamentation  should 
be  avoided,  especially  ornamentation  in  high 
relief,  which  is  irritating  to  handle.  On  the 
other  hand,  variety  may  be  charming.  At  a 
dainty  dinner  I  would  have  knives  and  forks 
of  a  different  pattern  with  every  dish. 

The  glasses  that  figure  on  a  table  will  de- 
pend on  the  wines  served;  they  should  be 
convenient  and  elegant  in  form,  and  depend- 
ent for  their  charm  simply  on  the  purity  of 
the  crystal  and  the  beauty  of  their  silhouette. 
Engraved  glass,  cut  glass,  and  colored  glass 
is  used  very  sparingly  by  people  of  taste. 
Bordeaux,  Burgundy,  and  Champagne  wines 
should  be  drank  out  of  nothing  but  the  purest 
crystal  glass,  which  conceals  none  of  their 
qualities  of  color  or  scintillation.  It  is  the 
custom  to  drink  German  wines  out  of  colored 
glasses.  Liqueur  glasses  are  often  colored  also, 
but  it  seems  absurd  to  mask  the  purity  and 
delicate  tones  of  whatever  nectar  we  may  be 
drinking  by  serving  it  in  obfuscating  glasses  of 
green,  blue,  red,  or  any  other  color.  For  my 
part  I  would  admit  to  the  gourmet's  table  only 
pure  and  very  simply  decorated  crystal  glass. 


1 64  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Decanters  play  a  very  limited  rdle  on  the 
real  gourmet's  table ;  they  are  used  only  for 
such  heavy  wines  as  Port  and  Sherry  or  for 
light  ordinary  Bordeaux.  To  decant  real 
wines  is  barbarous;  they  should  be  served 
directly  from  the  bottles  in  which  they 'have 
sojourned  while  their  qualities  were  ripening ; 
in  the  course  of  being  poured  from  a  bottle 
into  a  decanter  a  wine  loses  some  of  its  aroma, 
gets  agitated,  and  often  catches  cold.  If  the 
wine  served  is  not  real  wine  you  may  decant 
it  and  do  whatever  you  please  with  it  except 
serving  it  to  your  guests. 

The  great  difference  between  an  English 
table  and  a  French  table,  whether  in  a  private 
house  or  in  a  restaurant,  is,  so  far  as  the 
aspect  is  concerned,  the  complication  of  the 
former  and  the  simplicity  of  the  latter.  The 
French  use  fewer  utensils,  and  know  nothing 
of  that  multiplicity  of  special  apparatus — 
cruet-stands,  sardine-boxes,  pickle-forks,  sauce- 
boxes, butter-coolers,  biscuit -boxes,  pepper- 
casters,  trowels,  toast-racks,  claret-jugs — and 
a  score  other  queer  inventions  which  are  the 
pride  of  English  housekeepers,  and  which 
tend  to  encumber  an  English  table  to  such 
a  degree  that  there  is  hardly  room  left  for 
the  plates.     The  number  of  objects  that  fig- 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  1 65 

ure  on  an  English  table  is  most  confusing. 
You  sit  down  with  the  contents  of  a  whole 
cutlery-shop  before  you,  and  in  the  centre 
rises  a  majestic,  but  not  immaculate  monu- 
ment, containing  specimens  of  all  the  condi- 
ments that  Cross  &  Blackwell  ever  invented. 
It  is  an  awful  spectacle. 

In  a  French  house,  the  articles  for  table- 
service  are  knives,  forks,  spoons,  soup-ladles, 
salad  spoon  and  fork,  a  manche  a  gigot  (or 
handle  to  screw  on  to  the  knuckle-bone  of  a 
leg  of  mutton,  so  that  the  carver  may  hold 
it  while  he  cuts),  a  hors  d'ceuvre  service, 
some  bottle-stands,  oil  and  vinegar  stands, 
salt-cellars,  pepper-mills,  mustard-pots,  hot- 
water  dishes,  oyster-forks,  asparagus  servers, 
ice-pails,  nut-crackers,  grape-scissors,  crumb- 
brush  and  tray,  a  salver  or  tray,  with  a  sugar- 
basin,  etc.,  for  tea,  and  there  will  be  an  end 
of  the  silver  articles.  With  this  apparatus, 
and  the  necessary  supply  of  plates,  dishes, 
crockery,  glass,  and  linen,  the  most  delicate 
and  complicated  repast  may  be  perfectly 
served. 

Nowadays,  gold  or  silver  plate  is  very  little 
used  except  in  a  few  princely  houses.  Its 
absence  from  the  table  is  not  to  be  regretted  ;' 
the  noise  made  by  the  knife  and  fork  coming 


1 66  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

into  contact  with  gold  or  silver  plate  is  dis- 
agreeable to  the  nerves ;  the  glare  and  reflec- 
tions cast  upon  the  face  of  the  diner  by  his 
gold  or  silver  plate  are  disagreeable  to  the 
eyes.  The  gold  or  silver  ware  that  figures 
on  modern  dining-tables  should  be  limited 
to  candlesticks,  dessert -stands,  and  centre 
ornaments,  if  such  are  used.  But  in  this 
matter  it  is  preferable  to  follow  the  example 
of  our  ancestors,  and  if  we  are  the  lucky  pos- 
sessors of  fine  silver,  soupi^res  by  Pierre  Ger- 
main, or  ewers  by  Froment  Meurice  or  the 
Fannieres,  to  exhibit  them  on  our  buffet  or 
dresser  rather  than  on  the  table.  Remember 
that  the  table  should  be  always  free  for  the 
needs  of  the  service. 

Let  the  plates  and  dishes  off  which  we  eat 
be  as  fine  as  our  purses  can  afford.  One  of 
the  great  errors  made  at  the  Cafe  Anglais, 
in  Paris,  is  to  serve  fine  food  on  compara- 
tively coarse  faience y  or  plates.  A  simple  cut- 
let tastes  all  the  better  if  it  is  served  on  a 
porcelain  plate  of  beautiful  form  and  tasteful 
ornamentation.  A  refinement  in  table-serv- 
ice is  to  have  many  sets  of  porcelain,  and  to 
serve  each  course  on  dishes  and  plates  of 
different  design ;  and,  above  all  things,  see 
that  the  plates  are  warm — not  burning  hot, 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  167 

but  sufficiently  warm  not  to  diminish  the 
heat  of  the  food  that  is  served  on  them. 

The  gourmet  will  prefer  the  exclusive  use 
of  ceramic  dishes  and  plates  in  serving  a  din- 
ner, because  a  metal  dish  when  heated  com- 
municates a  slight  flavor  of  its  own  to  the 
natural  flavor  of  the  viands.  In  the  Parisian 
restaurants,  even  in  the  best,  they  have  a  vile 
habit  of  serving  a  duck,  for  instance,  on  a 
metal  dish,  and,  while  the  maitre  d' hotel  cuts 
up  the  duck  and  deposits  the  pieces  on  the 
dish,  he  has  a  spirit-lamp  burning  beneath  it. 
The  dish  thus  becomes  hot,  the  gravy  bub- 
bles, the  pieces  of  duck  get  an  extra  cooking 
and  absorb  the  taste  of  the  heated  metal,  and 
the  result  of  the  whole  operation  is  not  roast 
duck,  but  oxidized  duck.  This  barbarous  op- 
eration is  practised  daily,  but  only  very  few 
diners  protest,  to  such  a  low  level  has  the 
art  of  delicate  feasting  fallen  in  the  country 
where  it  once  flourished  most  brilliantly. 

The  manner  of  serving  a  dinner  is  a  ques- 
tion easily  settled,  provided  we  bear  in  mind 
the  fact  that  it  is  desirable  to  let  as  little 
time  as  possible  elapse  between  the  cooking 
of  food  and  the  eating  of  it.  This  considera- 
tion militates  against  the  service  a  la  Fran- 
gaise,  and  favors  the  service  a  la  Russe.     In 


1 68  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  former  system  each  course  is  served  on 
the  table,  and  afterwards  removed  in  order 
to  be  cut  up,  while  in  the  latter  system  the 
dishes  are  cut  up  before  being  passed  round. 
The  service  h  la  Franqaise  allows  a  dish  to 
cool  on  the  table  before  it  is  served ;  the 
service  a  la  Russe  is  incompatible  with  the 
art  of  decorating  and  mounting  dishes,  and 
suppresses  altogether  the  exterior  physiog- 
nomy of  the  French  grande  cuisi7ie,  which  is, 
after  all,  no  great  loss.  The  modern  system, 
dictated  by  reason  and  by  convenience,  is  a 
compromise.  The  table  is  decorated  simply 
with  fruit,  sweetmeats,  flowers,  and  such  or- 
naments as  caprice  may  suggest ;  the  entrees 
are  handed  round  on  small  dishes ;  the  im- 
portant pieces,  such  as  roasts  and  pieces 
de  risistance,  are  brought  in,  each  by  the 
maitre  d' hotel,  presented  to  the  mistress  of 
the  house,  who  makes  a  sign  of  acknowledg- 
ment, and  then  taken  off  to  be  cut  up  by  the 
maitre  d' hotel  on  a  side  table.  The  carved 
dish  is  then  handed  round  by  the  waiters, 
and,  when  all  the  guests  are  served,  it  is 
placed,  if  the  dish  be  important  enough,  on 
a  hot-water  stand  in  front  of  the  host  or  host- 
ess, or  in  the  same  condition  on  a  side  table 
awaiting  the  needs  of  the  guests.    I  am  speak- 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  1 69 

ing  always  of  dinners  where  the  number  of 
the  guests  is  wisely  limited ;  no  other  din- 
ners can  be  well  served,  so  that  it  matters 
little  whether  they  be  served  a  la  Russe  or  a 
la  Franqaise,  By  the  fusion  of  the  two  sys- 
tems, as  above  indicated,  it  is  possible  to  give 
full  and  entire  satisfaction  to  the  cook,  who 
always  has  a  right  to  demand  that  his  crea- 
tions shall  be  presented  for  judgment  in  the 
most  favorable  conditions,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  guests  have  their  eyes  satisfied  by 
an  agreeably  arranged  table,  and  their  pal- 
ates respected  by  being  enabled  to  taste  the 
delicate  masterpieces  of  the  cook  in  all  the 
freshness  of  their  savory  succulence. 

The  inconveniences  of  our  modern  system 
of  waiting,  where  the  dishes  are  presented 
between  the  guests  and  to  each  one's  left, 
have  been  noticed  already  and  the  remedy 
indicated,  namely,  the  substitution  of  narrow 
tables  arranged  as  convenience  may  dictate, 
but  with  the  guests  seated  on  one  side  only, 
so  that  the  dishes  may  be  presented  to  them 
from  the  front.  If  such  tables  were  used, 
their  decoration  would  necessarily  be  very 
simple,  and  composed  mainly  of  candlesticks 
and  vases  for  flowers.  With  our  modern  ta- 
bles, at  which  the  guests  are  seated  on  all 


170  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  sides,  the  simpler  the  decoration  the  bet- 
ter. It  is  essential  that  the  view  should  not 
be  obstructed,  and  that  opposite  neighbors 
should  not  have  to  ''  dodge  "  in  order  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  each  other. 

At  a  feast  the  guest  and  his  comfort  should 
be  first  considered,  and  the  guest  should  nev- 
er be  made  the  slave  of  the  ornaments  and 
accessories  of  the  table. 

All  floral  decoration,  however  it  may  be 
arranged,  should  be  kept  low,  no  flowers  or 
foliage  being  allowed  to  rise  to  such  a  height 
above  the  table  as  to  interfere  with  the  free 
view  of  each  guest  over  the  whole  table  from 
end  to  end,  and  from  side  to  side. 

Let  the  floral  decoration  be  as  much  as 
possible  without  perfume.  Nothing  is  more 
intolerable  to  some  sensitive  natures  than  an 
atmosphere  impregnated  with  the  odor  of 
violets,  roses,  or  mignonette,  particularly  dur- 
ing meals. 

In  future,  when  the  reformed  table  shall 
have  been  introduced,  and  the  custom  of 
sitting  on  one  side  only  shall  have  been  re- 
stored, it  will  be  possible  to  banish  the  floral 
decoration  from  the  table  itself,  and  to  place 
it  in  the  form  of  a  wall  of  verdure  and  flow- 
ers as  a  background  to  the  guests.     For  ex- 


ON  TABLE-SERVICE.  171 

amples,  see  the  various  pictures  of  feasts  by 
the  old  Florentine  painters  already  men- 
tioned. 

For  lighting  a  dinner-table  there  remains 
to  my  mind  but  one  illumination,  namely, 
candles  placed  on  the  table  itself  in  handsome 
flambeaux,  and  on  the  walls  in  sconces.  Gas 
and  electricity  are  abominations  in  a  dining- 
room.  Any  system  of  lighting  which  leaves 
no  part  of  a  room  in  soft  shadow  is  painful 
to  the  eye  and  fatal  to  the  artistic  ensem- 
ble. For  the  woman  who  wishes  to  show 
her  beauty  in  the  most  advantageous  condi- 
tions, and  for  the  gourmet  who  wishes  to 
feast  his  palate  and  his  eyes  in  the  most  re- 
fined manner  possible,  a  diner  aux  bougies 
is  the  ideal.  At  the  Rothschild  houses  in 
Paris  the  dinners  are  served  by  candlelight, 
and,  if  the  viands  and  the  wines  were  as  fine 
as  the  candlesticks,  their  dinners  would  be 
perfect. 

In  the  Baron  Edmond  de  Rothschild's 
dining-room  the  air  is  kept  cool  in  the  sum- 
mer by  two  columns  of  crystal  ice  placed  in 
a  bed  of  flowers  and  foliage,  one  at  each  end 
of  the  room,  and  the  floral  decoration  of  the 
table  is  composed  exclusively  of  cut  orchids. 


XVI. 
ON  SERVING   WINES. 

The  classical  theory  of  serving  wines  at 
a  dinner  is  the  following : 

Immediately  after  the  soup  dry  white  wines 
are  offered,  such  as  French  wines,  Marsala, 
Sherry,  Madeira,  dry  Syracuse,  etc. 

With  the  fish  dry  white  wines  are  also 
served.     With  oysters  Chablis  is  preferred. 

With  relev^s  of  butcher's  meat  and  warm 
entries  red  wines.  Burgundy  or  Bordeaux. 

With  cold  entrees  and  other  cold  pieces 
fine  white  wines  are  served. 

With  the  roast  come  the  fine  Bordeaux  or 
Champagne  wines,  or  both.  With  the  entre- 
mets ^  Champagne  alone.  With  the  dessert, 
liqueur  wines,  such  as  Frontignan,  Lunel, 
Alicante,  Malvoisie,  Port,  Tokay,  Lacrima- 
Christi,  etc. 

The  red  wines  ought  to  be  drank  at  a 
temperature  of  about  55  degrees  Fahrenheit. 
White  wines  should  always  be  served  cold. 

When  a  selection  of  wines  figures  on  the 


ON  SERVING  WINES.  1 73 

menu  in  the  order  above  indicated,  the  table 
requires  to  be  loaded  with  wine-glasses,  at 
least  half  a  dozen  by  the  side  of  each  plate, 
and  during  the  whole  dinner  the  waiters  are 
continually  inserting  a  bottle  surreptitiously 
between  every  two  guests,  and  murmuring, 
as  they  fill  the  glasses,  ''  Chateau  -  Lafitte, 
1865,"  "Clos  Vougeot,  1873,"  etc. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that,  among  the  many 
practices  which  interfere  with  comfort,  we 
must  note  both  the  attendants  who  pass 
dishes  over  the  shoulders  of  the  guests  and 
the  attendants  who  help  wine  to  the  com- 
pany. The  handing  round  of  dishes  can  be 
rendered  less  disagreeable  by  modifying  our 
current  ways  of  sitting  at  table.  As  for  the 
custom  of  having  an  attendant  to  help  wine, 
it  might  be  abolished  with  advantage  if  men 
could  be  convinced  that  the  drinking  of  many 
wines  during  one  meal  is  a  gross  form  of  lux- 
ury, and  one  disastrous  to  the  digestive  or- 
gans. 

The  multitude  of  wines,  like  the  multitude 
of  dishes,  served  in  succession,  however  care- 
fully that  succession  may  be  ordained,  wea- 
ries the  palate  and  fatigues  the  stomach.  If 
six  fine  wines  are  served  in  succession  in  the 
course  of  one  repast,  at  least  half  of  the  num- 


1/4  DELICATE   FEASTING. 

ber  are  not  fully  appreciated.  As  we  advo- 
cate simplicity  in  the  number  and  in  the  prep- 
aration of  the  dishes,  so  we  recommend  sim- 
plicity in  the  serving  of  the  wines,  for  our  ob- 
ject in  dining  is  neither  to  gorge  and  guzzle 
nor  yet  to  get  drunk.  When  we  rise  from 
the  table  we  wish  to  feel  our  heads  clear, 
our  papillae  clean,  and  our  tongues  free,  and, 
above  all,  we  wish  to  sleep  calmly,  and  to 
wake  up  the  next  morning  fresh  and  rosy. 

For  my  own  part,  I  prefer  to  drink  one 
wine  throughout  my  dinner,  either  red  Bor- 
deaux or  Burgundy,  or  a  dry  Champagne, 
unsophisticated  by  the  addition  of  liqueurs 
or  excess  of  caramel.  These  wines  I  drink 
poured  into  the  glass  directly  out  of  their  na- 
tive bottles,  and  the  Champagne,  being  of  the 
right  quality,  I  do  not  pollute  by  contact  with 
ice.  Really  good  natural  Champagne  should 
be  drunk  cool,  but  not  iced.  To  decant  Cham- 
pagne, whether  into  jugs  with  an  ice-recepta- 
cle in  the  middle,  such  as  modern  progress 
has  invented,  or  into  a  carafe  frappee,  as  is 
the  custom  with  the  less  civilized  French 
drinkers,  or  to  freeze  the  bottle  in  the  ice- 
pail,  or  to  put  lumps  of  ice  into  the  glass, 
are  equally  barbarous  operations.  The  only 
Champagne  that  may  be  iced  is  poor  and 


ON   SERVING  WINES.  1 75 

very  sweet  Champagne,  whose  sugary  taste 
is  masked  by  coldness. 

At  a  truly  scientific  feast,  where  all  the  con- 
ditions of  success  exist,  both  as  regards  the 
limitation  of  the  guests  to  the  number  of  the 
Muses  as  a  maximum,  and  also  as  regards  the 
perfection  of  the  viands,  both  in  quality  and 
in  dressing,  it  is  easy  to  dispense  with  the 
attendants  who  would  be  required  to  help 
wine  at  an  ordinary  dinner.  At  this  scien- 
tific feast  each  man  would  have  his  bottle. 

I  will  even  go  further,  and  say  that  not 
only  would  each  man  have  his  bottle  of  Cham- 
pagne or  his  bottle  of  whatever  other  wine 
there  might  be,  but  also  each  man  would 
have  his  leg  of  mutton,  his  duck,  his  par- 
tridge, his  pheasant.  This  method  alone  is 
truly  satisfactory,  because  it  renders  envy 
and  favoritism  impossible.  A  partridge  has 
only  one  breast,  and  a  leg  of  mutton  has  only 
a  few  slices  which  are  ideal.  Evidently,  if 
the  partridge  or  the  leg  of  mutton  has  to  be 
divided  between  several  guests,  one  or  more 
of  them  will  be  sacrificed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  other  or  others.  This  is  undesirable ; 
you  do  not  invite  people  to  dinner  in  order 
to  subject  them  to  martyrdom ;  you  do  not 
accept  an  invitation  to  dinner  with  a  view  to 


1/6  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

displaying  moral  qualities,  such  as  self-abne- 
gation. The  Russians  have  noble  views  on 
this  point.  Once  I  was  invited  to  dinner  by 
a  Russian  gentleman,  who  had  asked  me  pre- 
viously if  he  could  serve  me  any  special  dish. 
I  begged  that  I  might  taste  a  certain  Rus- 
sian mutton.  When  the  dinner  was  served  a 
whole  sheep  was  carried  in  steaming  hot  on 
the  shoulders  of  four  Tartar  waiters,  and  I 
was  asked  to  select  the  part  that  pleased  me 
best,  the  whole  dish  being  at  my  disposal. 

So,  with  this  question  of  wine,  if  we  have 
wine  let  it  be  served  in  abundance,  and  let 
each  guest  have  his  bottle,  and  as  many  bot- 
tles as  his  thirst  demands. 

The  above  remarks  do  not  apply  without 
reserve  to  family  life  and  quotidian  domestic 
repasts  ;  they  are  addressed  to  gourmets  and 
to  men  who  wish  to  do  honor  to  their  friends 
by  giving  them  a  real  dinner. 

In  order  to  feast  delicately,  it  is  perhaps 
necessary  to  be  an  egoist.  The  company  of 
friends,  or  at  least  of  one  friend,  is  indispen- 
sable. A  man  cannot  dine  alone.  But  the 
happiness  of  each  guest  must  be  ministered 
to  independently  of  the  happiness  of  the  oth- 
ers, and  for  that  reason  we  advocate  the  ser- 
vice by  unities — a  complete  dinner  for  each 


ON   SERVING  WINES.  1 77 

guest,  so  far  at  least  as  the  chief  dishes  are 
concerned.  This  idea  is  not  novel.  For  that 
matter,  there  are  no  novel  ideas  worth  talking 
about.  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  in  his  "  His- 
toriettes,"  relates  that  the  French  poet  Mal- 
herbe,  who  flourished  at  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  one  day  "gave  a  dinner  to 
six  of  his  friends.  The  whole  feast  consisted 
merely  of  seven  boiled  capons,  one  for  each 
man,  for  he  said  that  he  loved  them  all  equal- 
ly, and  did  not  wish  to  be  obliged  to  serve  to 
one  the  upper  joint  and  to  another  the  wing." 

The  smaller  the  dinner  the  better  will  be 
the  chance  of  its  being  well-cooked.  In  these 
days  of  wealth  and  parade  the  "  aristologist " 
craves  after  simplicity. 

The  late  Mr.  Walker,  author  of  "The  Orig- 
inal," wrote  a  series  of  papers  on  the  "Art 
of  Dining,"  which  contain  many  good  hints. 
Walker  was  a  partisan  of  simplicity.  "  Com- 
mon soup,"  he  says,  "  made  at  home,  fish 
of  little  cost,  any  joints,  the  cheapest  vege- 
tables, some  happy  and  unexpensive  intro- 
duction, provided  everything  is  good  in  qual- 
ity, and  the  dishes  are  well  dressed  and  served 
hot  and  in  succession,  with  their  adjuncts,  will 
insure  a  quantity  of  enjoyment  which  no  one 
need  be  afraid  to  offer." 
12 


178  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

Thus  we  see  that  delicate  eating  and  deli- 
cate drinking  are  not  questions  of  many  kinds 
of  wines,  multitudes  of  dishes,  or  great  state 
of  serving-men,  but  rather  of  fineness  of  the 
quality  of  all  that  is  offered,  simplicity  and 
daintiness  in  its  preparation,  rapidity  and 
convenience  in  the  serving  of  it,  and  appre- 
ciativeness  on  the  part  of  the  guests. 

That  marvellous  story-writer,  Guy  de  Mau- 
passant, says :  "  A  man  is  a  gourmet  as  he  is 
a  poet  or  an  artist,  or  simply  learned.  Taste 
is  a  delicate  organ,  perfectible  and  worthy  of 
respect  like  the  eye  and  the  ear.  To  be  want- 
ing in  the  sense  of  taste  is  to  be  deprived  of 
an  exquisite  faculty,  of  the  faculty  of  dis- 
cerning the  quality  of  aliments  just  as  one 
may  be  deprived  of  the  faculty  of  discerning 
the  qualities  of  a  book  or  of  a  work  of  art ; 
it  is  to  be  deprived  of  an  essential  sense,  of 
a  part  of  human  superiority ;  it  is  to  belong 
to  one  of  the  innumerable  classes  of  cripples, 
infirm  people,  and  fools  of  which  our  race  is 
composed ;  it  is,  in  a  word,  to  have  a  stupid 
mouth  just  as  we  have  a  stupid  mind.  A 
man  who  does  not  distinguish  between  a  lan- 
gouste  and  a  lobster,  between  a  herring,  that 
admirable  fish  that  carries  within  it  all  the 
savors  and  aromas  of  the  sea,  and  a  mack- 


ON  SERVING  WINES.  1 79 

erel  or  a  whiting,  is  comparable  only  to  a 
man  who  could  confound  Balzac  with  Eugene 
Sue  and  a  symphony  by  Beethoven  with  a 
military  march  composed  by  some  regimental 
band-master. 


XVII. 
THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE. 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  towards  the  end 
of  his  career,  in  1530,  wrote,  for  the  use  of 
the  young  prince,  Henry  of  Burgundy,  a  Ht- 
tle  treatise  in  Latin,  "  De  Civihtate  Morum 
PueriHum,"  which  was  very  soon  afterwards 
translated  into  EngHsh  by  Robert  Whyting- 
ton,  and  many  times  into  French,  under  the 
title  of  "Traits  de  Civility  Puerile  et  Hon- 
nete."  This  little  treatise,  which  has  re- 
mained until  almost  our  own  times  a  text- 
book in  French  schools,  is  the  first  special 
and  complete  book  of  etiquette  composed  in 
modern  Europe,  the  first  distinct  study  of 
good  manners  as  a  humble  branch  of  philos- 
ophy. In  this  little  book  we  shall  find  the 
elements  of  our  modern  table -manners  for- 
mulated in  a  few  brief  axioms,  such  as  the 
following : 

"  Do  not  pick  your  teeth  with  the  point  of 
your  knife,  nor  with  your  finger-nail,  as  dogs 


THE  ART   OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.       i8l 

and  cats  do,  nor  with  your  napkin  ;  make  use 
of  a  splinter  of  lentiscus  wood,  or  a  quill,  or 
of  those  small  bones  which  are  found  in  the 
legs  of  fowls. 

''  Gayety  is  becoming  at  table,  but  not  ef- 
frontery. Do  not  sit  down  without  having 
washed  your  hands  and  cleaned  your  nails. 
When  you  wipe  your  hands  drive  away  all 
morose  thoughts  ;  at  meals  you  ought  not  to 
seem  sad  yourself  nor  to  sadden  others.  Nam 
in  convivio  nee  tristem  esse  decet  nee  contris- 
tare  quenquam'' 

Erasmus  further  recommends  children  not 
to  put  their  elbows  on  the  table ;  not  to 
wriggle  on  their  chairs,  but  to  sit  upright ; 
and  to  lay  their  napkin  on  the  left  shoulder 
or  the  left  arm.  "  The  drinking-glass  should 
be  placed  on  the  right,  also  the  knife  for  cut- 
ting meat,  nicely  wiped  {cultellus  escarius  rite 
purgatus) ;  the  bread  on  the  left. 

"  To  begin  a  meal  by  drinking  is  the  act 
of  drunkards,  who  drink  from  habit  and  not  . 
from  thirst.  It  is  not  only  bad  manners,  but 
bad  for  the  health.  Before  drinking,  finish 
what  food  you  have  in  your  mouth,  and  do 
not  approach  your  lips  to  the  glass  until  you 
have  wiped  them  with  your  napkin  or  your 
handkerchief. 


1 82  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

''To  lick  your  greasy  fingers,  or  to  wipe 
them  on  your  clothes,  is  equally  bad  man- 
ners; it  is  better  to  make  use  of  the  table- 
cloth or  of  your  napkin. 

"  Do  not  gnaw  bones  with  your  teeth,  like 
a  dog;  pick  them  clean  with  the  aid  of  a 
knife. 

"  Help  yourself  to  salt  with  the  aid  of  a 
knife. 

*'  It  is  good  that  varied  conversation  should 
create  some  intervals  in  the  continuity  of  a 
meal.  Mulieres  ornat  silentium,  sed  magis 
pueritiamP  (These  Latin  words  may  be 
translated  by  some  bold  man  who  will  pref- 
ace his  remarks  by  declaring  that  he  does 
not  agree  with  Erasmus,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
ladies  are  concerned.) 

"  In  placing  a  dish  on  the  table,  and  in  fill- 
ing up  a  glass,  never  use  your  left  hand. 

"  To  speak  with  your  mouth  full  is  both 
impolite  and  dangerous." 

Now,  from  the  above  maxims,  and  from 
the  whole  treatise,  as  well  as  from  other  writ- 
ings of  Erasmus,  we  may  justly  conclude  that 
he  was  a  refined  and  urbane  gentleman  ;  and 
those  who  followed  his  precepts  would  cer- 
tainly be  charming  hosts  and  agreeable 
guests,  for  in  his  remarks  on  table -manners 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.       1 83 

he  has  touched  upon  all  the  points  that  are 
essential  to  decency,  comfort,  and  good-feel- 
ing. These  points  concern  three  matters, 
namely,  the  laying  of  the  table,  the  serving 
of  the  meats,  and  the  behavior  and  frame  of 
mind  of  the  guests. 

A  veteran  writer,  Th^ophile  Gautier,  who 
uttered  that  famous  axiom  so  saddening  to 
journalists,  *'  Daily  newspapers  are  published 
every  day,"  also  fathered  a  paradox  in  con- 
tradiction to  the  lamentation  of  the  Preacher: 
— "  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  said 
the  pessimistic  Hebrew.  "  Everything  is  new 
and  hitherto  unpublished,"  replied  Gautier, 
"  tout  est  ineditr  For  this  reason  I  have 
quoted  some  observations  of  Erasmus  of  Rot- 
terdam on  table-manners,  and  now  beg  leave 
to  gloss  and  comment  upon  them,  beginning 
with  the  very  important  detail  of  toothpicks 
and  picking  teeth.  The  use  of  fine  chicken- 
bones,  which  Erasmus  recommended,  we 
should  now  consider  rustic.  The  only  tooth- 
picks that  hygiene  and  convenience  admit 
are  wooden  splinters  or  quills.  Gold  or  silver 
toothpicks  are  dangerous,  because  the  metal 
may  scratch  or  chip  the  enamel  of  the  teeth. 
The  use  of  the  precious  metals  for  making 
such  a  mean  instrument  as  a  toothpick  is  an 


1 84  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

example  of  snobbishness.  An  ivory  tooth- 
pick is  also  objectionable,  because  the  ivory 
is  absorbent,  and  in  the  course  of  use  be- 
comes unclean. 

Use  a  toothpick^  and  throw  it  away  after- 
wards. You  do  not  want  to  carry  a  toothpick 
in  your  pocket  unless  you  are  travelli^ig  in 
barbarous  or  over-squeamish  countries. 

Here  the  question  arises :  "  How  is  the 
toothpick  to  be  used ?"  The  reply  is:  "  Sim- 
ply, without  affectation,  and  without  obsti- 
nacy." At  some  of  the  best  tables  at  which 
I  have  had  the  honor  of  sitting  in  Europe 
I  found  a  quill  toothpick  laid  at  the  foot 
of  the  wine-glasses,  as  being  as  indispen- 
sable a  part  of  the  couverty  or  service,  as  a 
knife  and  fork.  But,  unless  I  deliberately 
watched  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  thereby 
losing  the  enjoyment  of  a  part  of  the  dinner 
— which,  you  may  be  sure,  was  not  often  the 
case  —  I  never  noticed  guests  using  these 
toothpicks.  And  yet  they  certainly  did  use 
them,  but,  when  doing  so,  they  did  not  hoist 
the  white  flag  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
whole  table  to  the  operation,  as  those  persons 
do  who  try  to  hide  their  faces  behind  their 
napkin.  This  manoeuvre,  so  common  among 
the  Americans,  is  at  best  a  false  prudery, 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.       1 85 

worthy  only  of  the  intelligence  of  an  ostrich. 
To  hold  up  your  napkin  so  is  simply  to  make 
a  signal,  as  who  should  say :  "  Now,  look 
out.  I'm  going  to  pick  my  teeth.  See  how 
ashamed  I  am  of  the  clumsy  way  in  which  I 
do  the  said  picking." 

Such  picking  of  teeth  as  is  necessary  for 
comfort  may  be  done  at  table  without  any 
holding  up  of  napkins,  without  any  clumsy 
holding  of  the  hand  before  the  mouth,  which 
is  almost  as  ostentatious  as  the  white-flag 
signal,  and,  above  all,  without  any  scraping, 
smacking,  or  sucking  noises.  The  essence  of 
good  table-manners  lies  in  not  making  your- 
self remarked,  and  in  not  making  yourself  in 
any  way  disagreeable  to  your  neighbors. 

A  table-knife  is  to  be  used  to  cut  food, 
and  never  to  convey  food  to  the  mouth, 
which  is  the  function  of  forks  and  spoons. 
Nevertheless,  you  constantly  see  people  eat- 
ing cheese  with  a  knife.  The  treatise  on 
"  Civility  Puerile  et  Honnete,"  used  in  the  an- 
cient and  well-mannered  school  where  I  was 
brought  up,  expressly  forbade  this  usage. 
Dry  cheese,  I  was  taught,  should  be  cut  into 
small  pieces  on  your  plate  as  need  requires, 
and  each  piece  taken  up  delicately  with 
the  fingers  and  so  conveyed  to  the  mouth ; 


1 86  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

soft  cheese  should  be  spread  with  the  knife 
on  each  mouthful  of  bread ;  frothy  cheese, 
like  cream-cheese,  should  be  eaten  with  a 
spoon. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  are  afraid  to  use  their 
fingers  to  eat  with,  especially  the  English. 
Thanks  to  this  hesitation,  I  have  seen,  in  the 
course  of  my  travels  in  the  Old  World,  many 
distressing  sights.  I  have  seen  ladies  at- 
tempt to  eat  a  craw -fish  (ecrevisse)  with  a 
knife  and  fork  and  abandon  the  attempt  in 
despair.  I  have  also  seen  men  in  the  same 
fix.  I  have  seen — oh,  barbarous  and  cruel 
spectacle! — Anglo-Saxons,  otherwise  appar- 
ently civilized,  cut  off  the  points  of  aspara- 
gus and,  with  a  fork,  eat  only  these  points, 
thus  leaving  the  best  part  of  the  vegetable 
on  their  plates.  As  for  artichokes,  they  gen- 
erally utterly  defeat  the  attacks  of  those  who 
trust  simply  to  the  knife  and  fork. 

Fingers  must  be  used  for  eating  certain 
things,  notably  asparagus,  artichokes,  fruit, 
olives,  radishes,  pastry,  and  even  small  fried 
fish ;  in  short,  everything  which  will  not 
dirty  or  grease  the  fingers  may  be  eaten  with 
the  fingers.  For  my  own  part  I  prefer  to 
eat  lettuce  salad  with  my  fingers  rather  than 
with  a  fork,  and  Queen  Marie  Antoinette 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.   1 8/ 

and  other  ladies  of  the  eighteenth  century- 
were  of  my  way  of  thinking.  If  the  ladies 
could  only  see  how  pretty  is  their  gesture 
when  their  diaphanous  forefinger  and  thumb 
grasp  a  leaf  of  delicate  green  lettuce  and 
raise  that  leaf  from  the  porcelain  plate  to 
their  rosy  lips,  they  would  all  immediately 
take  to  eating  salad  h  la  Marie  Antoinette, 
Only  bear  in  mind,  good  ladies,  that  if  you 
do  wish  to  eat  lettuce  salad  with  your  fingers 
you  must  mix  the  salad  with  oil  and  vine- 
gar, and  not  with  that  abominable,  ready- 
made  white  "salad-dressing,"  to  look  upon 
which  is  nauseating. 

May  Heaven  preserve  us  from  excessive 
Anglomania  in  matters  of  table^service  and 
eating !  The  English  tend  to  complicate  the 
eating-tools  far  too  much.  They  have  too 
many  forks  for  comfort,  and  the  forms  of  them 
are  too  quaint  for  practical  utility.  Certainly, 
silver  dessert  knives  and  forks  are  very  good 
in  their  way,  because  they  are  not  susceptible 
to  the  action  of  fruit  acids,  but  it  is  vain  and 
clumsy  to  attempt  to  make  too-exclusive  use 
of  the  knife  and  fork  in  eating  fruit.  Don't 
imitate,  for  instance,  certain  ultra  -  correct 
English  damsels  who  eat  cherries  with  a  fork 
and  swallow  the  stones  because  they  are  too 


1 88  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

modest,  or,  rather,  too  asinine,  to  spit  them 
out  on  to  the  plate.  Eating  is  not  a  thing 
to  be  ashamed  of.  To  thoroughly  enjoy  a 
peach  you  must  bite  it  and  feel  the  juicy, 
perfumed  flesh  melt  in  your  mouth.  But,  let 
the  Anglomaniacs  say  what  they  please,  there 
is  no  necessity  of  sticking  a  fork  into  the 
peach  and  peeling  it  while  so  impaled,  as  if 
it  were  an  ill-favored  and  foul  object.  A 
peach  is  as  beautiful  to  the  touch  as  it  is  to 
the  eye ;  a  peach  held  between  human  fin- 
gers has  its  beauty  enhanced  by  the  beauty 
of  the  fingers.  However  dainty  and  ornate 
the  silver  dessert -knife  and  fork  may  be,  it 
always  irritates  me  to  see  people  cut  up  their 
peaches,  or  pears,  or  apricots,  or  what  not, 
into  cubes  and  parallelopipeds,  as  if  dessert 
were  a  branch  of  conic  sections.  Imitate 
Marie  Antoinette,  ladies :  use  your  fingers 
more  freely ;  eat  decently,  of  course,  but  do 
not  be  the  slaves  of  silly  Anglomania  or  New- 
port crazes.  To  eat  a  pear  or  an  apple  con- 
veniently cut  it  into  quarters,  and  peel  each 
quarter  in  turn  as  you  eat  it.  The  peach, 
too,  can  be  cut  into  quarters  if  the  eater  is 
timid.  Apricots  do  not  need  peeling,  nor 
plums  either.  Who  would  be  bold  enough 
to  peel  a  fresh  fig,  or  even  to  touch  such  a 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.   1 89 

delicate  fruit  with  even  the  purest  silver  in- 
struments ? 

I  have  referred  to  the  disastrous  discom- 
fiture of  English  men  and  women  by  a  dish 
of  crawfish.     This  dish,  not  being  of  com- 
mon   occurrence    in    America    or   England, 
might  be  neglected  by  an  unthoughtful  writ- 
er, but  as  fifty  thousand  Americans  visit  Eu- 
rope every  year,  and  as  I  could  wish  them 
all,  when  in  France  or  Belgium,  to  taste  this 
meat,  I  will  add  a  note  on  the  way  of  tack- 
ling it.     The  three  chief  forms  in  which  you 
will  find  the  crawfish  served  in  Europe  are 
as  a  coiilis  in  potage  bisque^  generally,  alas ! 
much  adulterated  with  carrots  and  rice  flour; 
boiled  in  a  court-bouillon  and  served  as  ^cre- 
visses  en  buisson;  cooked  in  a  rich  and  highly 
spiced  sauce  which  produces  ^crevisses  a  la 
Bordelaise.     In  all  these  forms  the  crawfish, 
which,  as  you  know,  of  course,  is  a  sort  of  min- 
iature fresh-water  lobster,  is  excellent.     The 
soup  you  eat,  naturally,  with  a  spoon.     Of 
the  ecrevisses  en  buisson  you  help  yourself, 
with  your  fingers,  to  a  bunch  of  half  a  dozen  ; 
take  them  one  by  one ;  pull  off  and  crack  and 
suck  the  claws ;  break  the  shell  with  your 
teeth  or  with  nut-crackers,  and  extract  the 
dainty  flesh  of  the  tail.     After  this  dish  it  is 


1 90  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

necessary  to  pass  round  finger-bowls  and  to 
change  the  napkins.  £crevisses  a  la  Borde- 
laise  must  be  eaten  in  the  same  manner ;  fin- 
ger-bowls and  clean  napkins,  if  not  a  com- 
plete bath,  are  necessary  after  the  consump- 
tion of  a  good  dish  of  this  succulent  crusta- 
cean. 

It  being  desirable  that  people's  table- 
manners  should  be  equal  to  any  emergency, 
whether  they  are  in  their  own  country  or 
engaged  in  foreign  travel,  I  will  add  that 
the  use  of  salt-spoons  is  not  universal  in 
this  world.  If  you  happen  to  be  at  a  table 
where  the  host,  recalcitrant  to  progress,  has 
not  invested  any  capital  in  vermeil,  silver,  or 
bone  salt-spoons,  help  yourself  to  salt  with 
the  point  of  your  knife,  as  Erasmus  of  Rot- 
terdam tells  you,  having  previously  wiped  it 
on  your  plate  or  on  a  bit  of  bread.  Do  not 
attempt  to  help  yourself  to  salt  with  the 
handle  of  your  fork  or  spoon.  In  countries 
where  salt-spoons  are  not  held  in  honor,  such 
an  attempt  would  be  esteemed  a  mark  of  ill- 
breeding. 

The  use  of  the  table-napkin  not  being 
thoroughly  understood  in  some  remote  parts 
of  the  earth,  only  recently  opened  to  the 
march  of  civilization,  it  may  be  well  to  state 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.      191 

that  the  napkin  should  not  be  used  for  mop- 
ping a  perspiring  brow,  or  wiping  your  nose, 
or  indeed  for  wiping  anything  but  your  mouth 
and  fingers.  When  you  sit  down  to  table 
you  ought  to  find  your  napkin  neatly  folded 
and  placed  on  your  plate  with  a  fair  piece  of 
bread  or  a  roll  inside  it.  The  most  worthy 
person  at  table  having  set  the  example,  you 
place  the  bread  to  the  right  of  your  plate,  un- 
fold your  napkin  entirely  and  lay  it  over  your 
knees  loosely.  You  may  have  heard  travel- 
lers scoff  at  the  practical  Frenchman  who 
stuffs  one  corner  of  his  napkin  inside  his 
shirt-collar  and  spreads  it  fully  over  the  front 
of  his  person  from  his  chin  down  to  his  knees. 
This  is  the  practice  of  the  French  people  of 
the  middle  and  lower  classes,  who  are  thrifty 
and  prudent,  and  who  wish  to  eat  at  their 
ease  and  not  to  spot  their  clothes.  There  is 
nothing  ridiculous  in  this  practice.  There  is  a 
reason,  and  an  excellent  reason,  for  so  spread- 
ing the  napkin,  and  if  I  were  dining  at  home, 
or  alone  at  a  restaurant  or  club,  and  had  on 
my  spotless  shirt  and  open  waistcoat  and 
claw-hammer  coat,  all  ready  to  go  to  the  op- 
era, I  should  certainly  spread  my  napkin  over 
my  manly  and  snowy  bosom,  just  as  the 
Frenchman  does,  and  so  I  should  dine  at  my 


192  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ease,  serenely  and  without  care,  knowing  that 
I  had  thus  insured  the  immaculateness  of 
my  Hnen.  However,  let  it  be  remembered 
that  company  manners,  in  all  countries,  re- 
quire you  simply  to  spread  your  napkin 
loosely  over  your  knees  and  to  eat  cleanly 
and  decently. 

With  the  dessert-plate,  and  on  it,  appears 
the  mouth-bowl  or  the  finger-bowl.  That 
excellent  lady,  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Gen- 
lis,  who  was  governess  to  the  children  of  the 
Due  d'Orl^ans,  one  of  whom  became  King 
Louis  Philippe  of  France,  wrote  in  her  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  Critique  et  Raisonn^  des  Etiquettes 
de  la  Cour,"  published  in  1818:  "Formerly 
women,  after  dinner  or  supper,  rose  and  left 
the  table  to  rinse  out  their  mouths  ;  the  men, 
and  even  the  princes  of  royal  blood,  out  of 
respect  for  the  women,  did  not  allow  them- 
selves to  remain  in  the  dining-room  to  do  the 
same  thing;  they  passed  into  an  anteroom. 
Nowadays  this  species  of  toilet  is  performed 
at  table  in  many  houses,  where  you  see 
Frenchmen  sitting  next  to  women  wash  their 
hands  and  spit  in  a  bowl.  This  spectacle  is 
a  very  astonishing  one  for  their  grandfathers 
and  grandmothers."  The  good  Madame  de 
Genlis  adds  that  this  usage  comes  from  Eng- 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.      1 93 

land,  and  that  the  custom  is,  certainly,  not 
French.  The  noble  dame  also  subjoins  an 
indignant  note  to  the  effect  that  Plutarch 
styled  the  dinner-table  as  the  *'  altar  of  the 
gods  of  friendship  and  of  hospitality." 

Certainly  the  operation  of  using  a  mouth- 
bowl  is  far  from  pleasing  to  contemplate,  but 
it  is  very  convenient ;  it  conduces  to  comfort, 
and,  provided  it  be  generally  practised,  no- 
body thinks  anything  about  it.  The  mate- 
rial side  of  eating  cannot  be  other  than  disa- 
greeable if  looked  at  from  an  absolute  point 
of  view,  instead  of  from  the  point  of  view  of 
usage  and  convenience.  Food  and  the  act 
of  eating,  masticating,  and  swallowing  are  in 
themselves  disgusting  phenomena.  That  hor- 
ribly snobbish  and  conceited  Lord  Byron — I 
mean  the  famous  poet— used  to  profess  that 
the  spectacle  of  a  pretty  woman  eating  filled 
him  with  horror;  and,  after  all,  a  civilized 
man  devouring,  with  all  possible  good-breed- 
ing, a  slice  of  roast  beef,  is  as  disagree- 
able a  sight  as  a  crow  tearing  and  devour- 
ing a  piece  of  carrion.  But  eating  being  a 
necessity,  nature  and  civilization  have  taken 
care  to  surround  the  operation  with  every- 
thing that  tends  to  distract  the  attention 
from  the  material  side  ;  and  they  have  suc- 
13 


194  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

ceeded  so  completely  that  not  one  man  out 
of  a  thousand  knows  anything  about  the 
physiology  of  eating  or  the  chemistry  of  food. 
Eating  has  become  a  social  as  well  as  a  nat- 
ural act ;  it  has  been  sublimated  by  the  idea 
of  hospitality ;  the  festive  board  has  ac- 
quired a  certain  solemnity  from  its  con- 
nection with  the  great  festivals  of  the  fam- 
ily ;  and  dinner  has  become  the  highest 
function  of  home  life,  a  daily  act  to  which 
no  other  can  be  compared  in  importance 
and  results. 

To  return  to  the  mouth-bowl,  when  once 
its  convenience  has  been  recognized  it  can- 
not be  regarded  as  any  more  objectionable 
than  a  toothpick,  and  it  must  be  made  use 
of  in  the  same  spirit,  simply,  without  osten- 
tation, and  without  false  shame.  The  most 
appropriate  bowls  are  made  of  white,  dark 
blue,  or  opal  glass,  about  three  inches  deep 
and  four  and  one  half  in  diameter,  either 
round  or  square,  and  in  each  bowl  is  served 
a  little  goblet  to  match,  containing  tepid  wa- 
ter perfumed  with  mint  or  orange  flower  just 
sufficiently  to  take  away  the  disagreeable  in- 
sipidity of  warm  water.  If  you  wish  to  per- 
form the  complete  operation,  you  take  a  lit- 
tle water  into  your  mouth  and  roll  it  about 


THE  ART  OF  EATING  AT  TABLE.       1 95 

without  making  strange  noises  or  still  strang- 
er grimaces,  but  discreetly  and  in  a  manner 
such  as  to  rinse  your  teeth  and  gums ;  mean- 
while you  have  emptied  the  rest  of  the  water 
out  of  the  goblet  into  the  bowl,  where  you 
dip  your  finger-tips;  then,  having  sufficient- 
ly washed  your  fingers,  you  raise  the  bowl  to 
your  mouth,  spit  the  water  out  of  your  mouth 
into  it,  replace  the  empty  goblet  in  the  bowl, 
and  the  waiter  removes  the  object,  while  you 
wipe  your  mouth  and  your  fingers  on  your 
napkin,  the  whole  business  being  the  affair 
of  half  a  minute.  Of  course,  if  you  are  at 
a  table  where  the  mouth-rinsing  is  not  gen- 
erally practised,  you  will  abstain;  but  let 
us  hope  that  it  will  not  be  your  misfortune 
to  dine  at  a  table  where  finger-bowls  are 
not  known.  If  such  is  your  unhappy  lot, 
you  are  quite  justified  in  filling  up  a  glass 
of  water,  dipping  your  finger-tips  in  it, 
and  even  moistening  your  napkin  in  order 
the  better  to  wipe  your  lips  clean  before 
leaving  the  table.  These  small  operations, 
trivial  as  they  may  seem,  are  necessary  for 
comfort  and  for  cleanliness ;  and  cleanliness, 
it  has  been  said,  is  next  to  godHness. 


XVIII. 
ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE. 

In  the  grammar  in  which  I  learned  the  ele- 
ments of  the  Spanish  tongue,  one  of  the  ex- 
ercises, I  remember,  began  as  follows :  "  I  like 
to  dine  always  at  home  ;  an  invitation  incon- 
veniences me.  Nevertheless,  it  is  necessary 
to  take  account  of  the  requirements  of  soci- 
ety. I  have  never  desired  to  appear  rude, 
nor  have  I  been  wanting  in  the  consideration 
that  is  due  to  friends." 

An  American  lady,  who  has  devoted  much 
time  to  the  study  of  the  social  habits  of  Eu- 
rope, and  who  has  imparted  to  her  country- 
men the  results  of  her  observations  in  lect- 
ures which  have  given  her  rank  as  an  author- 
ity on  matters  of  comparative  civilization, 
once  confided  to  me  her  disappointment  at 
the  reception  that  she  had  met  with  at  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards  during  a  holiday  tour 
in  the  Castilles  and  Andalusia.  "  I  started," 
she  said,  "  with  many  letters  of  introduction 


ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE.         1 97 

to  the  best  people  in  Madrid  and  Seville.  I 
presented  my  letters.  The  people  returned 
my  call ;  that  is  to  say,  the  men  did.  They 
also  placed  their  carriages  and  servants  at 
my  disposal,  and  obtained  for  me  permis- 
sions to  view  libraries  and  to  touch  relics  of 
the  greatest  sanctity.  But  none  of  them  in- 
vited me  to  dinner,  or  even  to  take  so  much 
as  a  cup  of  tea." 

From  this  fact  the  amiable  sociologist  con- 
cluded that  the  Spaniards  are  inhospitable 
and  disagreeable  people,  without  reflecting 
that  there  was  no  reason  why  the  Spaniards 
should  change  their  habits  for  her  sake,  and 
that  though  her  desire  to  pry  into  their  home- 
life  might  be  legitimate  from  an  absolute  point 
of  view,  it  was  the  height  of  indiscreetness 
from  the  semi-Oriental  point  of  view  of  Moor- 
ish Spain,  which  still  retains  all  its  force  in 
contemporary  Spain.  The  Spaniards,  it  is 
true,  are  chary  of  invitations.  Their  home 
is  very  sacred.  They  do  not  ask  the  new  ac- 
quaintance to  dine  with  them  five  minutes 
after  being  introduced.  Like  the  man  in  the 
Spanish  grammar,  they  consider  an  invita- 
tion as  an  inconvenience,  not  so  much  be- 
cause they  are  of  inhospitable  nature  or  be- 
cause they  have  no  spare  cash  to  speak  of. 


1 98  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

but  because,  like  the  patriarchs  of  old,  they 
look  upon  hospitality  as  a  very  grave  matter, 
and  a  duty  in  the  discharge  of  which  no  sac- 
rifices are  to  be  spared.  Consequently,  if 
they  cannot  entertain  in  a  satisfactory  man- 
ner, they  prefer  to  shirk  the  task  rather  than 
perform  it  in  a  halting  and  make-shift  way. 

This  sentiment  is  thoroughly  laudable,  and 
in  conformity  with  the  best  traditions  of  those 
ancient  civilizations  of  the  East  from  which 
we  derive  our  own.  Never  invite  a  man  to 
dine  lightly,  as  you  would  ask  him  to  take 
a  cigarette.  As  P.  Z.  Didsbury  remarked,  in 
terms  of  unforgetable  laconism,  "  A  man  can 
dine  but  once  a  day."  How  great,  then,  is 
the  responsibility  of  him  who  ventures  to 
take  upon  himself  the  providing  and  serving 
of  this  dinner! 

Furthermore,  whenever,  for  reasons  which 
we  need  not  examine,  you  are  invited  to  dine, 
and  you  accept  the  invitation,  do  not  be  in 
too  great  a  hurry  to  return  the  compliment. 
In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  blackest  ingrati- 
tude of  which  you  could  be  capable  would 
be  to  invite  your  amphitryon  and  inflict 
upon  him  a  return  dinner. 

Doubtless,  in  an  ideal  state  of  things,  it 
would  often  be  delightful  to  accept  an  invi- 


ON  BEING  INVITED   TO  DINE.         199 

tation  to  dinner.  As  it  is,  an  invitation  from 
people  with  whose  hearts  and  minds  I  am  not 
famiHar  fills  me  with  terror.  If  I  accept,  I 
say  to  myself,  What  will  befall  me  ?  In  their 
wish  to  do  me  honor  and  give  me  pleasure, 
have  my  would-be  hosts  realized  the  gravity 
of  the  deed  they  are  about  to  perpetrate? 
Have  they  devoted  thought  to  the  subject 
of  dining?  Having  invited  me  to  dine,  do 
they  know  how  to  dine  themselves?  Will 
the  temperature  of  their  dining-room  be  nei- 
ther too  high  nor  too  low?  Will  the  lights 
be  so  arranged  that  my  eyes  will  not  be  daz- 
zled, and  that  restful  bits  of  shadow  will  re- 
main soothingly  distributed  about  the  room? 
Will  the  chairs  be  the  outcome  of  reason,  or 
merely  of  the  furniture-maker's  caprice  ?  Will 
there  be  a  draught  under  the  table  or  over  it? 
Will  the  table-service  be  agreeable  to  the  eye? 
Will  the  food  be  real  food?  These  and  a 
score  other  interrogations  rise  to  my  lips,  and 
finally  I  put  to  myself  the  clinching  ques- 
tion, "  Shall  I  be  sick  before  or  after  the  or- 
deal ?'*  And,  as  a  rule,  I  prefer  to  be  sick 
before  the  dinner,  and  send  an  excuse,  thus 
making  sure  of  avoiding  sickness  after  it. 
My  feigned  indisposition  often  deprives  me 
of  charming  company,  but  it  does  not  pre- 


200  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

vent  me  repairing  to  a  restaurant  where  I  am 
sure  of  combining  a  menu  to  suit  my  palate 
and  where  I  have  the  right  to  criticise  and 
refuse  whatever  is  unworthy. 

This  confession  may  seem  to  imply  an  un- 
sociable nature.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the 
lamentation  of  a  victim  of  sociability.  My 
experience,  which,  without  having  extended 
over  many  lustres,  has  perhaps  compensated 
for  its  brevity  by  extreme  application  and  un- 
tiring assiduity,  has  demonstrated,  generally 
speaking,  that  the  people  who  have  invited 
me  to  dine  with  them  would  have  done  bet- 
ter to  have  had  themselves  invited  to  dine 
with  me. 

By  dint  of  pondering  over  gastronomic  dis- 
asters for  which  kindly  disposed  friends  and 
acquaintances  were  responsible,  I  have  con- 
ceived certain  projects  of  reform,  all  more  or 
less  chimerical.  I  have  wondered,  for  in- 
stance, why,  in  countries  where  rational  gov- 
ernments exist,  and  where  a  minister  is  ap- 
pointed to  attend  to  the  interests  of  the  fine 
arts,  with,  under  him,  directors,  deputy-direct- 
ors, inspectors,  and  a  dozen  grades  of  minor 
functionaries,  no  emperor,  king,  or  republic 
has  yet  thought  of  creating  a  Minister  of 
Gastronomy.     Hitherto  the  sad  fact  remains 


ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE.         201 

that  the  Art  of  Delicate  Feasting  does  not 
receive  state  encouragement  in  any  country 
on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 

Not  only  do  governments  ignore  or  neglect 
the  gastronomic  art,  but  even  private  initia- 
tive and  private  endowment  are  wanting.  Be- 
nevolent citizens  leave  money  for  the  foun- 
dation of  institutions  of  all  kinds  ;  important 
sums  are  bequeathed  for  the  endowment  of 
research  ;  but  no  one  has  ever  yet  thought  of 
instituting  a  permanent  Gastronomic  Acade- 
my or  of  endowing  a  chair  of  gastronomic 
criticism  in  our  existing  educational  estab- 
lishments. Criticism,  this  is  what  we  need. 
It  was  criticism  and  the  incessant  exigencies 
of  competent  critics  which  made  the  great 
cooks  and  the  great  restaurants  of  the  past. 
Criticism  alone  can  save  private  and  public 
cooker)'  from  irremediable  decadence  and  re- 
store the  art  of  delicate  feasting  to  the  emi- 
nent place  it  deserves  in  the  preoccupations 
of  civiHzed  humanity.  With  this  conviction 
at  heart,  I  conceived  an  idea  which  seemed 
to  me  quite  practical,  namely,  the  formation 
of  an  International  League  for  the  protection 
of  diners-out  and  for  the  general  advance- 
ment of  the  art  of  delicate  feasting.  Con- 
sidering the  misadventures  that  befall  one  in 


202  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

private  houses,  and  the  slovenly  and  inartistic 
ways  that  are  rapidly  becoming  traditional 
even  in  some  of  the  oldest  and  best  restau- 
rants of  the  world,  it  is  desirable  that  meas- 
ures should  be  taken  to  make  criticism  effect- 
ual and  productive  of  reform.  It  might  be 
going  too  far,  perhaps,  to  suggest  that  a  man 
has  a  right  to  ask  for  references  when  he  is 
invited  to  dine  in  a  strange  house.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  would  be  a  great  boon  if  one 
could  obtain  some  information  not  only  about 
private  houses,  but  also  about  public  restau- 
rants, in  the  various  cities  of  the  world  where 
civilized  men  do  most  congregate.  Hence 
the  idea  of  a  league  of  diners-out  and  of  an 
information  and  inquiry  office,  where  notes 
about  hosts  and  hostesses  might  be  central- 
ized and  communicated  to  the  members  of  the 
league  in  the  interests  of  the  culinary  art  as 
well  as  of  public  health  in  general.  Here, 
for  instance,  are  some  samples  of  the  entries 
which  an  information-office  of  this  kind  might 
catalogue : 

''  Mrs.  A. :  Sauces  dangerous,  red  wines 
fair.  Champagne  third  rate,  company  good. 
Robust  members  of  the  league  only  can  vent- 
ure to  sit  at  Mrs.  A.'s  table.  This  hostess  has 
been  warned,  but  hitherto  disdains  criticism. 


ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE.         203 

"  Mrs.  B. :  Soup  always  bad  ;  plates  insuf- 
ciently  heated ;  claret  dangerously  adulter- 
ated ;  coffee-cups  cold. 

"  Mrs.  C. :  Serves  tepid  coffee,  made  with 
essence,  in  cups  that  have  not  been  previ- 
viously  warmed.  Dinner  elaborate  ;  nothing 
but  entrees ;  nothing  to  eat.  This  table  is 
pretentious  and  hopeless.  Mrs.  C.  is  an  old 
offender.  Two  habitues  of  her  Tuesday  din- 
ner-parties died  last  year.  (N.B. — These  un- 
fortunate victims  were  not  members  of  the 
league.) 

"  Mrs.  D. :  In  this  house  the  pepper-mill  is 
unknown  ;  uses  ready-made  salad-dressing ; 
the  fifth  chair  to  the  hostess's  right  hand  is 
in  a  violent  draught. 

"  Mrs.  E. :  Cooking  excellent;  service  fair; 
cellar  not  deleterious,  but  far  from  ideal ; 
Champagne  good.  This  lady,  unfortunately, 
insists  upon  decorating  the  table  with  strong- 
ly smelling  flowers.  Her  case  is  interesting, 
and  recommended  to  members  of  the  league 
who  have  persuasive  talent  and  a  taste  for 
evangelizing. 

"  Mrs.  F. :  Serves  game  on  silver  dishes, 
with  spirit-lamp  burning  beneath  ;  result,  ox- 
idized snipe. 

"  Mrs.  G. :  Member  of  the  league  ;  makes 


204  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

great  efforts  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of 
high  gastronomic  art ;  coffee  perfect ;  both 
the  cups,  the  spoons,  and  even  the  sugar,  are 
warmed," 

I  gave  publicity  to  this,  as  I  thought,  brill- 
iant and  original  idea  of  an  International 
League,  in  an  article  published  in  a  most 
influential  London  newspaper  about  a  year 
ago ;  but,  to  my  sorrow,  nobody  has  yet  of- 
fered to  become  a  member,  although  I  did 
not  suggest  that  any  subscription  would  be 
levied. 

In  presence  of  such  indifference,  what  is  to 
be  done?  How  can  we  revive  the  spirit  of 
criticism  which  alone  can  rescue  the  art  of 
cookery  from  its  actual  state  of  decadence? 
The  case  seems  almost  hopeless,  for  the 
men  of  the  present  generation  do  not  appear 
to  have  the  sentiment  of  the  table;  they 
know  neither  its  varied  resources  nor  its  infi- 
nite refinements ;  their  palates  are  dull,  and 
they  are  content  to  eat  rather  than  to  dine. 
The  delicate  feaster  is,  nowadays,  a  rarity, 
and  a  man  of  thirty  or  thirty-five  years  of 
age  who  knows  how  to  order  a  dinner  scien- 
tifically, and  to  avoid  even  elementary  sole- 
cisms, is  a  still  greater  rarity.     In  modern 


ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE.         20$ 

Paris,  formerly  the  Mecca  of  gourmands,  it 
is  becoming  most  difficult  to  dine,  and  every- 
where, even  in  the  best  restaurants — we  will 
say  no  more  about  private  houses — we  see 
the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  absence 
of  criticism.  Both  cooking  and  service  suf- 
fer. At  the  Caf^  Anglais,  while  the  cooking 
remains  excellent,  the  waiters  are  inadequate 
both  in  number  and  in  intelligence ;  the  but- 
tons of  their  waistcoats  are  frequently  denud- 
ed of  cloth,  and  their  threadbare  dress-coats 
are  covered  with  grease-spots.  And  yet  no- 
body complains.  Our  European  contempo- 
raries devote  no  thought  to  such  important 
details  as  the  training  and  dressing  of  wait- 
ers, thereby  showing  themselves  to  be  less 
civilized  than  the  Russians,  whose  Tartar 
waiters  are  exemplary  both  in  noiseless  at- 
tention and  in  appropriate  costume  of  spot- 
less purity. 

In  the  Parisian  and  European  restaurants 
of  the  present  day  the  tendency  is  to  pre- 
pare the  food  and  to  organize  the  service  as 
if  a  restaurant  were  a  buffet.  The  cartes  of 
old,  so  infinitely  varied,  have  disappeared,  to 
make  way  for  the  summary  carte  du  jour. 
In  other  words,  cookery  has  become  an  in- 
dustry rather  than  an  art,  and  the  object  of 


206  DELICATE  FEASTING. 

the  cook  is  to  furnish  rapidly  large  quantities 
of  "  portions  "  rather  than  to  prepare  daintily 
a  few  dishes  that  will  win  for  him  the  com- 
pliments of  connoisseurs.  The  reasons  of 
this  phenomenon  are  manifold.  The  hurry 
and  unrest  of  contemporary  life  do  not  con- 
duce to  the  appreciation  of  fine  cooking,  nor 
is  fine  cooking  possible  where  it  is  necessary 
to  prepare  food  in  very  large  quantities.  But 
why  are  the  restaurants  of  the  very  highest 
class  declining  in  excellence  ?  Can  they  not 
count  upon  the  patronage  not  only  of  the 
ilite  of  the  gourmands-  of  Paris,  but  also — 
thanks  to  club-trains  and  swift  communica- 
tions of  all  kinds — upon  the  patronage  of  the 
gastronomers  of  the  whole  world?  This  is 
true,  but  with  important  reserves.  The  de- 
cline of  the  art  of  cookery  in  the  Parisian 
restaurants  is  due  chiefly  to  the  development 
of  club-life !  The  men  of  fashion,  leisure,  or 
wealth  who  would  formerly  have  lived  at  the 
restaurants  now  dine  at  the  table  d'hote  of 
their  clubs,  between  two  feverish  seances  at 
the  baccarat-table,  and  thus  the  restaurants 
have  lost  that  nucleus  of  regular  and  fastidi- 
ous customers  which,  by  its  readiness  to  crit- 
icise and  appreciate,  obliged  and  encouraged 
the  chef  to  keep  up  the  traditions  of  the  dain- 


ON  BEING  INVITED  TO  DINE.  207 

ty  palates  of  the  past.  At  present  the  great 
restaurants  of  Paris  depend  for  support  as 
much  on  foreigners  as  on  resident  Parisians ; 
their  patrons  are,  therefore,  unstable,  and  the 
criticism  of  their  cookery  less  constant  and 
less  rigorous  than  it  used  to  be.  Once  more 
the  word  "  criticism  "  flows  from  the  point  of 
my  pen,  and  sums  up  the  whole  gist  of  the 
preceding  pages.  Without  criticism  there 
can  be  no  delicate  feasting. 

How  often  you  hear  people  say,  "  Oh !  I 
am  not  particular.  I  do  not  pay  any  atten- 
tion to  what  I  eat."  Certainly  we  can  con- 
ceive that  there  are  men  devoid  of  the  senses 
of  taste  and  smell,  just  as  we  can  conceive 
men  for  whom  exquisite  flowers,  beautiful 
women,  fine  pictures,  or  incomparable  stat- 
ues have  no  charm.  But  such  men  are  to  be 
pitied,  supposing  that  we  deign  to  accord 
them  any  manifestation  of  interest  whatever. 
Whether  our  object  be  to  get  out  of  life  the 
greatest  amount  of  pleasure  or  the  greatest 
amount  of  work,  or  both  together,  it  is  good 
policy  to  pay  great  attention  to  what  we  eat, 
and  to  strive  in  this,  as  in  all  that  we  under- 
take, to  attain  perfection. 


INDEX. 


Albumen,  digestion  of,  17. 

Allspice  for  seasoning  pasties, 
etc.,  56. 

Artichokes,  a  la  Barigoule, 
45  ;  garnish  for,  46 ;  how 
to  cook,  45  ;  how  to  eat, 
45  ;  to  serve,  47. 

Asparagus,  cooking  of,  42  ; 
dish  for  serving,  44 ;  how 
to  eat,  44  ;  tongs  for  serv- 
ing, 44  ;  when  to  gather. 
42. 

Beans,  cooking  of  dried,  37  ; 
string,  d;  la  Fran^aise,  48  ; 
to  boil,  38. 

Beef,  nutritive  value  of,  30; 
time  required  for  digestion 
of,  33. 

Beef-tea,  how  to  make,  23. 

Boiling,  23 ;  action  of,  on 
meat,  24 ;  temperature  for, 
24. 

Bouillon,  basis  of  good  cook- 
ing, 91  ;  composition  of, 
87,  88 ;  court,  how  to  make, 
57  ;  grand,  106  ;  how  long 
maybe  kept,  92  ;  in  cook- 
ing artichokes,  46  ;  in  lai- 
tues  au  Jus,  50  ;  in  mate- 
lote^ 61  ;  in  potage,  85  ;  in 
potato  salad,  77  ;  meat 
used  in,  23  ;    not  an  ali- 

14 


ment,  87  ;  qualities  de- 
manded in,  89 ;  salts  of 
potash  in,  88 ;  stimulating 
power  of,  88. 

Bouquet  garni,  for  season- 
irig,  55  ;  in  matelote,  61. 

Bread,  digestion  of,  31  ;  with 
soup,  93. 

Brine,  effect  on  muscular  tis- 
sue, 30. 

Broiling,  conditions  for,  19. 

Broth,  most  appetizing,  30. 

Butter,  affecting  digestion, 
29  ,  for  cooking,  30. 

Candles    on  dining  -  table, 

171. 
Carrots,  35. 
Caterers,  66. 
Cauliflower,  au  gratin,  40  ; 

saut^,  42  ;  to  cook,  40. 
Chapon,  for  seasoning  salad, 

74- 

Chdteaubriand,  how  to  pre- 
pare a,  102. 

Cheese,  how  to  eat,  186  ;  in 
cauliflower,  42  ;  nutritive 
value  of,  31. 

Chemistry,  knowledge  of, 
necessary  to  a  good  cook, 

13. 
Coffee,  action  of,  on  nerves, 
126  ;    Audiger's    rule    for 


210 


INDEX. 


making,  I22  ;  berries,  126  ; 
black,  126,  130  ;  crushing 
berries  of,  130  ;  decoction 
of,  123  ;  directions  for 
making,  126  ;  egg  in,  126  ; 
filters  for,  126 ;  in  Eng- 
land, 120;  loaf-sugar  in, 
131 ;  quantity  for  a  cup, 
128;  results  of  drinking, 
122;  sweetening  cold,  131 ; 
to  preserve  aroma  of,  127  ; 
Turkish,  128,  130. 

Consomm/,  definition  of,  86  ; 
in  shell-fish  soup,  93  ;  nec- 
essary to  fine  soup,  86 ; 
qualities  of  a  good,  89. 

Cook-books,  12  ;  to  whom 
useful,  13. 

Cooking,  best  methods  of, 
28  ;  decline  of  fine,  in 
Paris,  206  ;  delicate,  stim- 
ulates appetite,  25  ;  effect 
of,  on  muscular  tissue,  15  ; 
effect  of,  on  olive  oil,  22  ; 
era  of  fine,  106  ;  French, 
reason  of  superiority  of, 
54  ;  idea  of  quintessential, 
107  ;  increases  digestibility 
of  blood,  16  ;  insufficient 
or  excessive  heat  in,  25  ; 
principles  of,  12  ;  recipes 
for,  R.  Estcourt,  9  ;  why 
generally  bad,  8. 

Copper  pan  for  boiling  vege- 
tables, 38. 

Court-bouillon,  for  cooking 
fish,  57,  58  ;  to  make.  57  ; 
vinegar  or  lemon  in,  58. 

Crawfish,  how  to  eat,  189. 

Crime,  definition  of,  86  ; 
qualities  required  in,  89. 

Croutons  for  soup,  93. 

Decanters,  164. 


'  Decanting  tea,  124  ;  wine, 
164,  174. 

Decoction  of  meat,  22  ;  of 
tea,  123,  124. 

Digestion,  how  assisted,  28  ; 
comparison  of,  of  different 
foods,  31  ;  time  required 
for  different  foods,  33  ; 
time  varies  with  different 
people,  34. 

Dining  in  Florence,  in  Re- 
naissance, 151  ;  in  Middle 
Ages,  150  ;  late  Reyniere's 
idea  of,  10;  pleasures  of, 
Brillat-Savarin,  2;  without 
ceremony,  ii. 

Dining-room,  armor  in,  133  ; 
cooling  Rothschild's,  171  ; 
decoration  of,  132,  133 ; 
display  of  dishes  in,  133  ; 
in  French  villa,  135  ;  flow- 
ers in,  134  ;  of  Directory 
epoch,  136  ;  of  Henri  II., 
133 ;  of  Lord  Lonsdale, 
134  ;  of  Mme.  de  Pompa- 
dour, 135  ;  personality  in 
arrangement  of,  134 ;  Pom- 
peian  style  of  decorating, 
137;  rare  -  colored,  135; 
Whistler's,  138. 

Dinner-parties, progressive,  2. 

Dishes,  metal,  167. 

Duck,  a  la  Portugaise,  109  ; 
time  required  for  digestion 
of,  33 ;  wrong  method  of 
serving,  167. 

Eating,  a  social  act,  194 ; 
by  candle-light,  no;  fruit, 
188  ;  salad,  a  la  Marie 
Antoinette,  187  ;  with  fin- 
gers, 186. 

Eggs,  composition  of,  17 ; 
digestion  of,  31,  33. 


INDEX. 


211 


Entr^es^  different  kinds  of, 
117  ;  how  served,  168  ; 
sauce  for,  118  ;  travailUes, 
117,118. 

Farce  in  cabbages  for  soup, 94. 
Fatty    substances,    digestion 

of,  16,  28. 
Feast,  sumptuous,  of  Queen 

Elentherilide,  153. 
Figs.  115. 

Finger-bowls,  192,  195. 
Fish,  digestibihty  of,  30,  31, 

33  ;    matelote  of,   60,  62  , 

nutritive  value  of,  30. 
Flowers  for  the  table,  170. 
Food,  digestibility  of   differ- 
ent  kinds   of,   33  ;    fried, 

why  hurtful,  28  ;  properly 

cooked,  aids  digestion,  28  ; 

variety  in,  29. 
Forks,  162  ;   how  to  use  at 

table,  158. 
Fowl,  nutritive  value  of,  30  ; 

time  required  for  digestion, 

33- 
French  Revolution,  cooks  of 

the,  108. 
Fried    food,    injurious,    28 ; 

sole,  chapelure  for,  22. 
Fruit,  eating,  at  table,  187, 

188 ;    nutritive   value    of, 

32. 
Frying-bath,  composition  of, 

2 1 ;  testing  temperature  of, 

22. 
Frying,  oil  for,  22 ;  process 

of,  21  ;  sole,  22. 
Furniture,  in  dining-room  of 

i8th  century,  143. 

Galatine,  seasoning  for,  57. 
Game,  nutritive  value  of,  30  ; 
seasoning  for,  59. 


Garlic  in  soup,  93. 

Gastronomic  Academy,  201  ; 
art,  neglected,  201. 

Gelatine,  alimentary  value 
of,  88. 

Glasses  for  table  use,  163. 

Goose,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Grape-juice  for  flavoring,  59. 

Grapes  in  Paris,  36. 

Gridiron,  how  to  use,  20. 

Hors    d''auvres,  warm    and 

cold,  114,  115,  116. 
Hospitality,    Russian,    176  • 

Spanish,  196. 

Indigestion,  Brillat  -  Sava- 

rin  on,  3. 
Invitations    to    dinner,   196, 

199;  returning  invitations, 

198. 

Knives,  for  table,  162  ;  how 
to  use,  158. 

Laitues  au  Jus,  50. 

Lamb  breaded  with  cheese, 
no. 

Lemon -juice,  in  maitre 
d'hStel  sauce,  102  ;  in  tea, 
125  ;  seasoning  for  salads, 

71. 

Lettuce,  for  salads,  67  ;  how 
to  cook,  49. 

Louis  XV.,  art  of  delicate 
feasting  in  time  of,  146  ; 
as  cook,  9  ;  on  art  of  cook- 
ing, 8. 

Magny,  admired  by  George 
Sand,  5  ;    restaurant  of,  5. 

Mattre  d'hdtel,  duties  of, 
168  *,  in  Paris  restaurant, 


212 


INDEX. 


6 ;  office  of,  7  ;  to  make 
sauce,  102. 

Matelote  of  fish,  60,  62. 

Maxims  on  dining,  1-12. 

Mayonnaise^  by  whom  in- 
vented, 107 ;  green,  80,  81 ; 
red,  81  ;  stirring,  79  ;  to 
make,  78,  79, 

Meats,  baked,  26  :  basting, 
27 ;  boiled,  digestion  of, 
31  ;  composition  of,  14 ; 
digestibility  of  different, 
compared,  32,  33  ;  extract 
of,  86 ;  how  to  spit,  26  ; 
price  of,  14,  15  ;  not  to  be 
roasted  in  oven,  26  ;  raw, 
insipid,  25 ;  roast,  diges- 
tion of,  31  ;  salt,  compared 
with  fresh,  30  ;  well-pre- 
pared, increases  health,  16; 
when  to  cook,  25. 

Meat-pie,  27. 

Melons,  114. 

Menus,  decorated,  113; 
French  words  in,  114  ;  use 
of,    112  ;    theory    of,    88, 

Milk,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Mouth-bowls,  192,  194,  195. 

Mutton,  nutritive  value  of, 
39  ;  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Napkins,  decoration  of,  162  ; 
how  to  arrange,  190  ;  how 
to  use,  161. 

Nutritive  foods,  most  valu- 
able, 30,  31. 

Oven,  care  of,  26. 

Oysters,  flavoring  for  ra- 
gouts^ 64  ;  pickled,  64  ; 
time  required  for  digestion 


of.  33  *.  17th-century  ways 
of  preparing,  63. 

Paprika,  in  soup,  95. 

Paratriptics,  120. 

Pease,  a  la  Fran^aise,  47, 

Pepper,  best,  71  ;  mill  for 
grinding,  71. 

Petite  Marmite,  95. 

Pike,  court-bouillon  for,  50  ; 
Izaak  Walton's  remarks 
on,  95. 

Plate,  gold  and  silver,  for 
table,   165. 

Pork,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33, 

Potage,  gras  et  maigre,  85, 

87. 

Potato  salad,  76,  77 ;  starch 
in,  37- 

Pot-att-feu,  meat  in,  23  ;  of 
Henry  Fourth,  93  ;  skim- 
ming and  straining  of, 
91. 

Poule-aU'Pot,  Mile.  Fran- 
9oise's,  94. 

Purde,  defined,  86  ;  qualities 
of  a  good,  89. 

Ragouts,  flavoring  with  pick- 
led oysters,  64  ; 

Ravigote,  in  mayonnaise,  80 ; 
to  make,  80. 

Reading  aloud  at  table,  162. 

Relish  in  food,  how  pro- 
duced, 55. 

Relishes,  artificial,  53. 

Restaurateurs  of  modern 
Paris,  formerly  cooks  in 
noble  families,  108  ;  of 
the  Old  World,  6. 

Roasting,  meat,  18  ;  effect  on 
tissue,  24  ;  open  fire  neces- 
sary for,  27. 


INDEX. 


213 


Salad  as  an  aliment,  65 ; 
basket  for  draining,  69  ; 
bowl  for,  69  ;  chicory,  74  ; 
cultivating  vegetables  for, 
67  ;  definition  of,  65  ; 
French  dressing  for,  65  ; 
fruit,  65  ;  garnish  for  let- 
tuce, 74  ;  how  to  mix,  70  ; 
how  to  season,  70  ;  Japan- 
ese, 67  ;  lettuce  and  dress- 
ing, 68,  72  ;  mac^doine,  77, 
78 ;  nutritive  value  of,  65  ; 
of  uncooked  vegetables  and 
herbs,  67  ;  potato,  76,  77  ; 
spoon  and  fork  for,  70 ; 
truffles  in,  77  ;  usefulness 
of,  66  ;  vegetable,  67  ; 
Vendome,  67  ;  when  to 
eat,  73  ;  with  game,  75. 

Salt-spoons,  190. 

Sauces,  Bearnaise,  gg,  100  ; 
blanche,  98  ;  Chdteaii- 
h  iattd  a  la  maitre  d'hStel, 
102  ;  fine  materials  neces- 
sary for,  99 ;  Gouffe's,  100 ; 
green,  for  cold  fish  and 
meats,  loi  ;  Hollandaise, 
for  asparagus,  43  ;  maitre 
d'hStel,  102  ;  Mile.  Fran- 
9oise's,  100 ;  spoons  for 
stirring,  99. 

Sauces,  basis  of  good  cook- 
ing, 104  ;  classical,  102  ; 
cost  of,  105  ;  household,  97. 

Saucisson  in  soup,  94. 

Saute',  cauliflower,  42. 

Seasoning,  business  of  the 
cook,  53  ;  for  fish,  57  ;  for 
galatine  57  ;  perfection  of, 
54. 

Soup,  care  in  making,  89  ; 
croutons  for,  93  ;  different 
names  for,  84,  85  *,  heavy, 
84  ;  Henry  Fourth's,  94  ; 


how  to  serve  hot,  96 ;  Mile. 

Fran9oise's,  94 ;  plates  for, 

83  ;  rules  for  making,  92, 

93,  94  ;  stock  for,  86,  87  ; 

thick  or  clear,  84  ;  use  of, 

83,  87  ;  velvet,  92  ;  velvet 

maigre,  82. 
Spoons,    metal,    99 ;     salad, 

70;  warm,  for  coffee,  184  ; 

wooden,  99. 
Starch,  change  of,  in  digestion , 

38  ;  indigestibility  of,  37  ; 

in  vegetables,  36,  37. 
Steak,     Chdteaubriand,     to 

cook,    103 ;    turning  with 

fork,  21. 
Stewing,  process  of,  21. 

Table,  Arthurian  Round, 
shape  of,  148 ;  behavior  at, 
181  ;  chairs,  how  to  place 
at,  159;  cloth  for,  159, 
decanters  for,  164;  decora- 
tions for,  168,  170;  dish- 
es for,  166;  drinking  at, 
r8i  ;  etiquette  of,  180  ; 
forks  for,  162, 187;  French 
and  English,  compared, 
164;  glasses  for,  163,  173; 
horse -shoe  dining,  145  ; 
how  to  light,  170 ;  how  to 
use  forks  at,  158  ;  how 
to  use  knives  at,  158  ;  in 
1 8th  century,  143  ;  knives 
for,  162  ;  New  York  club- 
house, 148  ;  placing  guests 
at,  151,  154;  plate,  gold 
and  silver,  for,  165,  166  ; 
service  a  la  Fran^aise,  168 ; 
service  d  la  Russe,  168  ; 
silver  for,  166  ;  utensils 
for,  164,  165  ;  waiting  at, 
155,  169  ;  warm  plates  for, 
167. 


214 


INDEX. 


Taste,  artistic,  in  eating,  178. 

Tea,  action  of,  on  nerves, 
126 ;  Audiger's  rule  for 
preparing,  121  ;  decanting 
infusion  of,  124  ;  English, 
120 ;  hygienic  manner  of 
preparing,  123  ;  infusion 
of,  124;  lemon  in,  125; 
loaf-sugar  in,  131  ;  poison- 
ous element  in,  123  ;  pre- 
pared in  small  quantities, 
124;  properties  of,  121; 
sugar  and  milk  in,  125  ; 
when  to  be  taken,  122. 

Teapots,  125. 

Tinibales,  116. 

Toothpicks,  181,  183,  184. 

Tripe,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Trout,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Turkey,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 

Veal,  time  required  for  di- 
gestion of,  33. 


Vegetables,  boiling  of  dried, 
37  ;  digestion  of,  31  ;  dry, 
how  cooked,  36  ;  for  salad, 
67  ;  in  Paris,  35  ;  xwpotages 
maigres,  85 ;  nutritive  value 
of,  32  ;  preserving  color  of 
cooked,  38,  39;  rafratchu\ 
39 ;  season  to  use,  35  ;  to 
sweeten  bitter,  40. 

Venison,  nutritive  value  of, 
30. 

Vinegar,  tarragon,  for  salad- 
dressing,  74 ;  in  Bearnaise, 
loi  ;  to  prepare,  74. 

Waiters,  at  Cafe  Anglais, 
205  ;  male,  154 ;  Tartar, 
205. 

Wine,  champagne,  how  to 
serve,  174  ;  classical  meth- 
od of  serving,  172  ;  decant- 
ers for,  164;  for  sauce,  60; 
glasses  for,  163 ;  in  cook- 
ing, 59  ;  kitchen,  60  ;  too 
many  kinds  of,  at  table, 
173. 


THE  END. 


SUMMER  HOLIDAYS. 

Travelling  Notes  in  Europe.  By  THEODORE 
Child,  Author  of  ''  Delicate  Feasting." 
pp.  vi.,  304.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Orna- 
mental, $1  25. 


A  delightful  book  of  notes  of  European  travel.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Child  is  an  art  critic,  and  takes  us  into  the  picture-galleries, 
but  we  never  get  ai>y  large  and  painful  doses  of  art  informa- 
tion from  this  skilful  and  discriminating  guide.  There  is 
not  a  page  of  his  book  that  approaches  to  dull  reading. — 
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in  novelty  and  odd  bits  of  interest,  as  well  as  in  beauty  of 
scene  and  sympathy. — Nation,  N.  Y. 

The  author  gives  glimpses  of  many  by-ways  which  the 
ordinary  tourist  never  dreams  of.  He  is,  moreover,  a  phi- 
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